Parents shackle Apex wannabe son to bed to stop his violent Melbourne sprees
EXCLUSIVE: THE desperate parents of a wannabe Apex gangster have resorted to chaining their 16-year-old son to his bed at night to stop him slipping out to commit burglaries and car thefts.
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THE desperate parents of a wannabe Apex gangster have resorted to chaining their 16-year-old son to his bed at night to stop him slipping out to commit burglaries and car thefts.
His mum said on Tuesday that she and her husband had decided to use a heavy-duty motorcycle chain to shackle their son.
“That’s the reality of it, that’s what we’re resorting to,” she said.
The boy did not argue with the drastic measure, she said, and had even acknowledged the seriousness of his crime spree, which began with his involvement in the Moomba CBD riots in March.
The Herald Sun can reveal that more than a third of youths who faced court over the Moomba thuggery have since been charged with committing more violent crimes.
BELOW: THE SHAME FILE — Moomba rioters who have reoffended
Many of them have again been released back into the community, including the 16-year-old, who has been locked up twice since the Moomba violence.
Another is a 17-year-old Apex member who was part of a gang that broke into an Ormond home, beat its occupants with hammers and threatened rape.
The boy’s mum said the chain came out when her son had been bailed — “then we could sleep at night, instead of not knowing if he’s going out or not”.
The teen is now back behind bars after pleading guilty to involvement in a police pursuit, in which police allege he was high while behind the wheel. His mother wants him kept in custody.
The motorcycle-chain mother of the 16-year-old caught up in the Apex crime wave said it made her feel sick listening to the charges read out in court against her son.
“I kept thinking, ‘That’s not my child’,” she said.
The last time he was bailed, in early August, was when she and her husband had decided to bring out the chain.
Of the boy’s reaction, she said: “I think he realised it had come to this.”
She wants him to remain in youth detention until all of his charges are dealt with, rather than be released again to be back on the streets.
The mother, previously congratulated by a children’s magistrate for her hardline approach, said the justice system allowed her son and other juvenile offenders to be freed too easily.
“They’re being given too many chances,” she said.
“Because my boy was given bail the first time he didn’t feel like he had actually got into any trouble.
“I said to him, ‘You’re not in there to be on holiday, you’re not there to be adored and admired by all your fans. You’re there because you did the wrong thing’.”
Police say others given bail, a diversion or a deferred sentence over the Moomba riots had shown gratitude by committing violent robberies.
The Herald Sun sat through nine cases of Moomba rioters who went on to commit further violent offences.
These included a boy, 15, who has pleaded guilty to stealing a cancer sufferer’s car. The theft preventing the victim from receiving treatment.
In another case, a rising sports star was involved in the violent carjacking of a family of three, during which a 12-year-old girl was pulled from the BMW parked in her own driveway.
Several accused rioters are due back before the courts early next month, while others have already had their cases finalised.
OUR BOY WAS ALWAYS A CARING KID, NOW WE’VE HAD TO RESORT TO THIS ...
THE family photos and collectibles decorating the living room give it the feel of any suburban home.
Down the hall, a teenage boy’s room — with its framed guernseys and brightly patterned doona — betrays nothing out of the ordinary.
That is, until you see the chain under the bed. “It’s designed for my husband’s motorbike, so you couldn’t possibly break it open,” says the teen’s mother.
With one end secured around the bed frame, the other attaches to the 16-year-old’s leg to keep him exactly where he should be at night — instead of on the street committing crimes.
“That’s the reality of it. That’s what we’re resorting to,” she says.
The mother is a woman previously commended by a magistrate for her vigilance, but who is now at her wit’s end. She describes her son — “a smart boy doing silly things” — as a kid with no criminal history who began his foray into thuggery in the March 12 Moomba riots.
In August, he was rearrested over a series of aggravated burglaries and car thefts in Melbourne’s southeast.
His mother told a magistrate from the witness stand she had resorted to hacking into his Facebook account to warn accomplices to stay away from him.
“He seemed to be taking directions from them more than from me,” she said during the August 24 hearing.
“I was glad when he was charged. I called police and said: ‘Come and get him’.”
The teen was bailed back to his parents, which is when the chain came out. “I think he knew that we were at the end of our rope,” she said.
Her son had accompanied older teens during home invasions, holding their loot for them, before graduating to stealing cars himself.
“I know for a fact there’s lots of kids who are older sitting back and letting the younger ones take the blame,” she said.
Many of them simply drive the stolen cars for fun, picking each other up and swapping the vehicles like trading cards, she said.
“He keeps saying, ‘I’m a G, I don’t get caught’. It’s some gangster bulls--- slang. Prior to this, he was always a caring sort of kid,” she said.
The boy is now back behind bars after he sped from police in a stolen car.
For the time being, his mother hopes he stays there. “We’re certainly not sitting by, letting him do this.”
THE SHAME FILE — Moomba rioters who have reoffended
THE TAXI ROBBER
A 15-year-old boy, who was granted a diversion for kicking another Moomba reveller, is behind bars after a series of violent robberies on taxi drivers. He was arrested after trying to flee a detective. He will face court again at the end of the month.
THE CARJACKER
A rising sports star, 17, was given a deferred sentence for car theft and his involvement in the riots three weeks before carjacking a father, his wife and 12-year-old daughter in their St Albans driveway. He has been released from custody and will be sentenced at the end of the month.
THE HOME RAIDER
A boy, 15, was charged with multiple counts of affray, theft and robbery after Moomba. He has since pleaded guilty to breaking into people’s homes in Melbourne’s southeast and stealing their cars, including a vehicle belonging to a cancer sufferer. He also brought a Taser into court.
THE CAR THIEF
A 17-year-old boy, who mingles with Apex members, last month pleaded guilty to affray over the riots, as well as car thefts, aggravated burglaries, robberies and thefts committed in May, June and July. He was the front passenger in a stolen BMW that crashed on the West Gate Freeway in July, seriously injuring a female passenger. Despite committing serious breaches of bail, he was released from custody on a 10-month probation order on September 7.
THE HAMMER BASHER
An Apex member, 17, who participated in the riots later broke into an Ormond home and bashed students with hammers, threatening to rape them. He and a companion also smashed the rear light of a divvy van. He was released on an eight-month youth attendance order.
THE HOON
A 15-year-old boy involved in the riots led police on a chase through Berwick in a stolen Volkswagen in July. He was arrested when the car hit a concrete median strip. He was granted a diversion last week after apologising to police.
THE BURGLAR
A 16-year-old boy involved in robberies following the riots was arrested again in August over a spate of aggravated burglaries and car thefts in Melbourne’s southeast. He was bailed by a magistrate after his mother said she had begged police to arrest him. Nine days later, police spotted him speeding in a stolen Audi in Berwick. He was followed and arrested. He has pleaded guilty to Moomba charges and his most recent offending and is waiting in custody to be sentenced at the end of the month.
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