Teen thug who attacked police officer at Highpoint shopping centre faces new allegations
A TEEN thug freed after coward kicking a policeman in the head is facing fresh charges — but a magistrate has refused to let the public know the details.
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A TEEN thug freed after coward kicking a policeman in the head is facing fresh charges.
But Children’s Court magistrate Greg Levine has refused to let the public know the details.
The Herald Sun understands it relates to an armed robbery.
It comes a week after the 17-year-old boy was given nine months’ probation without conviction after the Boxing Day attack on the officer at Highpoint Shopping Centre.
The decision sparked public outrage, and police have asked prosecutors to consider an appeal.
The teen’s new allegations were listed for the first time in the children’s court on Thursday.
No details were aired of his alleged offending with the hearing adjourned to next month.
An application by the Herald Sun to access charge sheets and a police summary were refused.
The boy’s lawyer had opposed the release of the information.
“The allegations are untested. He’s a young person,” she said.
Mr Levine said there was “merit” in her argument and that any reporting at this early stage could lead to a “clear injustice of the defendant”.
“I think it’s premature,” the magistrate said.
The accused was not in court, his lawyer said, because he had just started his VCE.
Shocking details have been revealed how the boy kicked the senior constable in the face as he was on his hands and knees detaining a shoplifter.
The teenager rushed towards him and kicked him in the head in an onslaught described as a “soccer kick”, an earlier court heard.
He was arrested on December 29 and bailed days later, only to breach it and be locked up not even 24 hours later.
The boy was already on probation for home invasions and car theft at the time of the assault.
Last week, he was sentenced to further probation without conviction after spending just a month in detention.
Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said there was no justice in the punishment.
“How can you not receive a conviction for kicking a police officer in the face in an unprovoked public attack? A month on remand and nine months on probation is light when you consider the potential outcome of this type of attack,” he said.
Mr Gatt said: “We have strict laws for one-punch attacks yet a police officer in Victoria can be kicked in the head and the offender is free to walk without a blot on his record.”
The latest charges will return to court on March 8.