Teenage boy lifts lid on Victoria’s violent youth gangs
EXCLUSIVE: A BOY, 16, has lifted the lid on the tactics of Victoria’s violent youth gangs, who break into homes and steal cars in lucrative crime sprees, and how juvenile jail is like a “school camp”.
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A BOY, 16, has lifted the lid on the tactics of Victoria’s violent youth gangs, who break into homes and steal cars in lucrative crime sprees.
The teen says he earned thousands of dollars raiding houses during a year in which he joined a citywide teen crime scourge. And he dismisses Parkville youth justice centre as like a “school camp”.
Crime figures show more than 36,000 offences were committed by 10 to 17-year-olds in Victoria in the past financial year.
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Aggravated burglaries, carjackings and police pursuits skyrocketed as violent gangs, such as Apex and Youth Crucified Warriors, become increasingly brazen.
On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal will decide whether up to 15 of the state’s most violent young thugs can be kept in Barwon Prison’s Grevillea unit, after rampaging rioters destroyed the Parkville centre.
Now the 16-year-old, whose parents resorted to chaining him to a bed, has spoken of the teens’ total lack of respect for the law. He says:
APEX youths are now taking ice before brutal smash-and-grabs.
THUGS on parole or on bail are increasingly committing daylight raids to avoid breaching curfews;
LUXURIOUS two-storey homes in new residential estates in Melbourne’s outer suburbs are carefully selected for burglaries;
PEER pressure and a lust for the gangster lifestyle drive out-of-control youths to compete to see who can make the most cash.
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The boy is currently out on bail awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to a string of aggravated burglary and car theft charges.
He said the fear of dying, and the recognition of the shattering impact of his crimes on his victims, finally prompted him to reform.
A love of cars led him to steal unlocked vehicles off the street, and a thirst for notoriety saw that escalate into burgling by night, he said.
“It became like a competition about who could make more money. I thought I was invincible.”
Night-time burglaries then became daylight robberies to try to avoid harsher punishments, the teenager said.
“When we started getting charged with it, we realised that the court frowned upon agg(ravated) burg (larie)s worse, so we thought it’d just be easier to do it during the day,” he said. “Because then our parents aren’t worrying if we’re home or not, and we’re not breaking our curfew.
“And if we get caught, it’s a charge of burglary — not aggravated burglary, which we know the court gets angry about,” he said.
The teen, one of the Moomba rioters, said he and his friends would plan meetings on social media. Then they would pick each other up in stolen cars and travel to newly developed housing estates, choosing two-storey homes where “fast” cars were parked.
“If you go for a nice house, they usually have more money,” he said. Once there, they would jump fences and sneak into houses through back doors during the early hours of the morning.
The advantage with two-storey homes, he said, was that detection was less likely because the residents were likely to be asleep upstairs.
Properties with CCTV, or where several cars were parked, were avoided.
Family cars were sold on for a fraction of their retail value.
The Herald Sun has learned from legal sources that many cars are sold for rebirthing.
The boy said he used his ill-gotten gains to collect watches, iPads, phones and other small valuables.
Despite three stints in the Parkville detention centre since August, he said that initially he did not care that he kept being locked up.
Life at Parkville, where basketball, personal training and Tim Tams were all on offer, was a breeze, he said.
“It’s like school camp: you can just kick it with your friends, pretty much.
“Everyone has friends in there. You all know each other. They say you’re not allowed to hang with your co-offender on the outers (outside in the community) and stuff, but I was sharing a room with my co-offender,” he said.
“I don’t think people would reoffend as many times as they did if they didn’t know they were going to keep getting a slap on the wrist.”
In September, after he was bailed a second time, the Herald Sun revealed that his desperate parents had resorted to securing him to his bed with a heavy-duty motorbike chain to stop him sneaking out.
“It’s the only thing that’s guaranteed to work. But at the time, when it was around my leg for two nights, I was just like in a rage,” he said.
“After that, I started viewing being able to sleep in my own bed without a chain as a privilege, and I just didn’t go out,” he said.
Only during his most recent stint in Parkville did the teenager begin to consider the effects on his victims.
“I forgot about the cheap couple of hundred money I made, but they could still be feeling the effects of it today,” he said.
The boy also said the November 5 death of Apex-linked Dandenong teen Dru Peterson, 17, in a high-speed smash in a stolen vehicle, prompted him to rethink his life.
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HE looks like any other teenage boy slumping on the couch, distractedly flipping through his iPhone on a warm summer’s day.
Except this 16-year-old is more grateful than most to laze around in the presence of his family as they flit about, preparing for the holidays.
It’s been a big year for the suburban Melbourne teen: he’s been imprisoned four times over, including once by his parents, and has abused the leniency of the justice system.
“I’ve definitely seen a lot of stuff and done a lot of stuff for someone my age,” he said.
“I’m just glad I came out of it before I was seriously injured or did serious time, like other people have.”
Those “other people” are the teens caught up in Victoria’s youth crime epidemic of home invasions, carjackings and armed robberies.
Lured by the promise of easy money, adrenaline and notoriety in their criminal circles, the youths carry out terrifying acts, which would land adults hefty jail terms, with alarming ease.
This teen admits falling victim to all three temptations in his ultimate pursuit of the lucrative gangster lifestyle.
A week before Christmas, he was bailed to await his Children’s Court sentencing over aggravated burglaries, car thefts and robberies.
What began as a love of cars spiralled into a taste for riches stolen in the dead of night. He said: “It’s just about being a high-roller. Everyone wants to have money.”
The boy describes burgling homes and stealing cars with routine calm. He likens a confrontation with a homeowner to a game of British Bulldog.
He recalls police drawing guns during a dramatic arrest.
The teen’s entry into the youth justice system came with the Moomba riots. “Thinking back on it, it was stupid, but at the time, it was fun,” he said.
He believes many teens consume ice before embarking on violent smash-and-grabs.
His parents, unable to stop him joining friends on crime sprees, went to the lengths of securing him to his bed.
After bailing the boy for the third time, one magistrate gave his verdict: “Something terrible is going on with your life.”
The boy said: “You can hang out with 10 good people and still do the wrong thing, and you can hang out with 10 wrong people and still do the right thing.
“You know what I mean? It’s all down to my choice. I’ve got to keep in mind I don’t want to be taken away from easy living any time soon