17-year-old charged with committing armed home invasions and violent assaults in Bendigo refused bail

A teenager — accused of bashing a man with a hammer in a violent home invasion after the man spoke with police — allegedly spoke about wanting to “murder” when he was released from custody.

A 17-year-old has been refused bail after he allegedly bashed a man in the head with a hammer during an armed home invasion in Bendigo.

A teenager — accused of bashing a man with a hammer in a violent home invasion after the man spoke with police — allegedly spoke about wanting to “murder” when he was released from custody.

The 17-year-old was refused bail in a children’s court on Thursday after police said they feared he would “seek retribution” if released.

The court heard the teenager was accused of storming a Kangaroo Flat home last month, bashing one of the residents in the head with a hammer and leaving him bleeding severely.

He then allegedly told the victim: “I am [name redacted] and I will be back to spray this house with lead.”

The law prohibits the identification of a person under the age of 18 who is charged with a criminal offence.

The teen allegedly committed two home invasions while on bail.

The 17-year-old was also charged over a Quarry Hill armed home invasion where he and co-offenders allegedly smashed a glass door and entered the property with a machete, stealing $1300 in cash and jewellery.

Police alleged the teen – who smoked up to 4g of ice per day – had an “extensive history of violence over the last six months indicating an escalating pattern of behaviour”.

Police played a video in court of the 17-year-old allegedly bashing a man and threatening with a knife.

The court was shown a video of the teenager allegedly viciously bashing a male because he had spoken to police about the alleged offending of one of his friends.

The shocking video showed a person brutally punching and kicking a man in the head before holding a knife against his body and threatening to kill him.

Police alleged the teen was prone to “very violent” and “unprovoked attacks with weapons”, adding they feared the teen would “seek retribution” against witnesses and victims.

The prosecutor alleged the footage showed the teen’s “frightening” behaviour towards people who “rat” on him and his associates.

Police further argued the 17-year-old had “no regard” for bail, allegedly committing two home invasions while on bail.

The 17-year-old allegedly said he wanted to “physically harm and murder” in the Bendigo community.

His alleged behaviour while in custody gave police “grave concerns”, the prosecutor said, accusing the teen of providing “commentary on wanting to physically harm and murder in a community setting” while previously locked up.

“(The) community should not be at risk from having [the teen] released … because of his extremely violent nature,” the prosecutor said.

The defence argued there was “no real intention” behind his alleged murder threats adding there were a “substantial amount of measures” that could be taken to reduce “risk to the community” to a “tolerable level”.

His lawyer said the 17-year-old should be released because of his young age and so he could engage in support services and attend school.

He said the teen wanted to get back into the community and “changing his ways”.

A youth justice support worker told the court, under cross examination from the prosecutor, that the teenager would only attend school two hours a day and would be left unsupervised to “walk around in the community” for several hours.

Magistrate Sharon McRae said the alleged evidence of “extreme violence” in unprovoked attacks and an “apparent theme of retribution” against witnesses made the accused an “unacceptable risk”.

“I simply can’t put my trust in you to comply (with bail conditions),” Ms McRae said, refusing the teen’s bail.

“You have shown a complete disregard for the bail you were placed on and went on to (allegedly) commit … very serious allegations of offending.”