Violent teen poses ‘too great a risk to community’ if freed, court hears
A violent teen who allegedly stabbed and almost killed a man has been deemed “too high a risk” of reoffending if released back into the community. And the Department of Health and Human Services has been slammed for its handling of the boy.
East
Don't miss out on the headlines from East . Followed categories will be added to My News.
A 15-year-old boy who allegedly stabbed and almost killed a man will remain locked up because the risk he poses to the community is too great, a court has heard.
The eastern suburbs boy, who cannot be named, was refused bail by a Children’s Court on June 18 following protracted bail proceedings over the past month.
In handing down her decision, Magistrate Jan Maclean said remanding a child was a “last resort”.
But she said it was necessary in this case because the risk the boy posed by reoffending was too great.
She also slammed the Department of Health and Human Services for being slow to find alternative accommodation for the boy, a ward of the state, after it refused to take him back into state-run residential care because of staff safety fears.
She also said other DHHS-proposed accommodation, run by contractors instead of the department, did not provide adequate staffed care to reduce the risk of him reoffending.
Two other contracted residential units also declined to take the boy in, she said.
And while secure community accommodation had just recently been found, she said the department had also been too slow to arrange psychological assessments for the boy.
“Essentially the overriding factor in this issue is the management of risk,” Ms Maclean said.
“They (the department) have utterly failed … what the court asked child protection to do is now only in nascent stages underway.”
The boy, once a promising athlete, is accused of stabbing a man five times during an armed burglary in Melbourne’s inner east in March.
MORE: WOMAN WHO KICKED COP IN HEAD WALKS FREE
SHOCKING CAR THEFT WITH BABY INSIDE FAILS TO DETER THIEF
TROUBLED TEEN FREED FOLLOWING BRUTAL BUS ATTACK
One stab wound almost pierced the man’s heart while another nearly rendered him a quadriplegic, detective Senior Constable Thomas Crocket told the court during an earlier bail hearing on May 20.
The boy is also alleged to have threatened to kill and “rip” the face of a terrified child protection worker at his old residential unit, prompting the man to take out an intervention order.
The boy is due back at court next month.