Anger as JB Hi-Fi rip and run thieves get a ‘slap on the wrist’
Two teens who stormed a Camberwell JB Hi-Fi store and snatched almost $5000 worth of phones have received a sentence which has been slammed as a “slap on the wrist”.
Law & Order
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Two teens who snatched almost $5000 worth of phones in a “swarm” attack have been sentenced to a ropes climbing course.
The sentence has been branded a “slap on the wrist” for the pair who dodged a criminal record in favour of a diversion order.
The boys — both aged 16 — hatched a plan after school to raid the electronics store with three other friends on June 21.
The teens stormed Camberwell JB Hi-Fi — one arming themselves with scissors stolen from a nearby shop.
They surrounded a display of iPhones, snatched five of the devices and fled to the shock of shoppers and staff.
A Children’s Court last week found the boys stood a good chance of rehabilitation because it was their first serious run-in with the law.
Neither will have a criminal record if they successfully complete a high-ropes day with members of law enforcement and stay out of trouble.
Australian Retailers’ Association director Russell Zimmerman, who fields daily calls from scared workers and frustrated business terrorised by brazen thieves, hit out at the decision.
It comes amid a spate of similar so-called “swarming” theft attacks revealed in the Sunday Herald Sun.
“They are getting a slap on the wrist,’’ Mr Zimmerman said. “I’d be pretty cross and cranky. It’s wrong.
“The staff are frightened.
“They come to work and expect to be able to do their everyday work. It’s concerning retailers so much.
“These gangs come in and they rip the store apart.”
A magistrate, while noting she hoped the teens would turn their lives around, said the offending wasn’t the work of “shy kids”.
“It’s really bold offending,” the magistrate said addressing one of the boys. “If you’re scared you’re going to stand by … He was in the thick of it.
“It was bold and it was arrogant and it was brazen.
“Hopefully you’ll remember back on this day and think ‘I don’t want to do that again’,’’ the magistrate said.
One of the boy’s lawyers told the court the youth was shy and physically intimidated into taking part.
“He felt quite a bit of peer pressure,” the lawyer said. “One of the co-accused is quite a bit larger. He was scared. He made a really stupid decision.”
The other boy’s lawyer told the court it was a crime borne out of bad peer associations.
The boy, who moved to Australia the year he was born, had moved schools after the attack and no longer hung out with the same group, the lawyer told the court.