Boy, 14, bashes his grandmother with metal pole after she confiscates his gaming controller

A violent teen boy bashed his grandmother with a metal pole — screaming “just stay down and die” as she cowered on the ground — after she confiscated his gaming controller.

A violent 14-year-old boy bashed his grandmother after she confiscated his gaming controller. Picture: Supplied

A violent teen screamed “‘just stay down and die” as he walloped his grandmother with a metal pole after she took away his computer controller, a court has heard.

Described by a pediatrician as a “very unusual young man”, the then 14-year-old boy repeatedly struck his grandmother with the pole and used it to compress her throat after a dispute in the home they shared in Melbourne’s south east in August 2022.

The boy – initially charged with attempted murder – first attacked his older sister after she came to her grandmother’s aid, the Supreme Court heard.

The terrified girl fled for safety, calling police from a bedroom closet, after being whacked to the knee and wrist with the metal pole.

Enraged at his grandmother for confiscating his computer controller, the boy then dealt a series of high-impact blows in a protracted and “ferocious assault” on his fearful grandmother.

“You struck her at least once to the front of her head, causing a gash which bled profusely,” Justice Amanda Fox said.

“(She) felt faint and fell to the ground. You continued to hit her with the pole to her back and side, and used the end of the pole to hit her in the chest.

The boy escaped conviction and was released on a 15-month youth supervision order. Picture: Supplied

“You were screaming at her to ‘just stay down and die.’ She was yelling out for you to please stop, but you continued to assault her.

“(She) was panicking; she could feel that her right wrist and ribs were broken, and feared the pole would penetrate her chest.”

The boy was unrepentant after the assault, giving police at the scene a detailed account of the assault and that he intended to kill his grandmother and “hoped she died”.

“You said you hit your grandmother with as much force as you could, and you wanted to kill her. You said you were disappointed that you did not kill her and annoyed that she was still alive,” Justice Fox said.

The court heard the boy had undiagnosed high functioning autism spectrum disorder and that the attack occurred in the context of a recent relocation which deeply unsettled him.

The boy had lived with his mother and sisters at a home owned by his grandmother in Cranbourne.

But in 2022 interest rate rises forced the grandmother to sell the home and invite her daughter and grandchildren to come live with her.

The court heard that the morning of the assault, the grandmother asked the boy to hand back the keys to the Cranbourne home and that she took away his computer controller when he refused.

“At the time of the offending, you felt a profound sense of injustice and believed that your grandmother was wrong, which led to feelings of anger and retribution,” Justice Fox said.

The boy’s charges were downgraded to causing serious injury intentionally in circumstances of gross violence and common assault.

Justice Fox said that while the boy continued to show limited, if any, remorse, his moral culpability was lowered due to his youth and autism.

The boy escaped conviction and was released on a 15-month youth supervision order requiring him to engage with mental health and disability supports.