14yo’s accused Beach Rd hit-run driver’s violent tantrum after being refused bail

The accused Beach Rd hit-run driver who bragged he would “steal another car” if he was granted bail has allegedly made good on his promise just a week after he walked free.

A boy, 14, charged over the horror cyclist hit-run who bragged he’d steal more cars if released back in the community has allegedly made good on his promise after breaching three sets of bail.

The child in state care, who was arrested in a stolen Mercedes speeding at 150km/h on Wednesday, threw a table and a chair when he was refused bail in court on Thursday for being too high a risk to public safety.

Granted release just seven days earlier, the boy charged over the Beach Rd hit-run was caught smoking a bong in residential care within three days of his release on Sunday.

Then on Wednesday, he was arrested alongside three youths fleeing a stolen car after a high-speed police pursuit about 1am.

The boy had been granted provisional bail a week earlier with strict conditions, despite the court hearing how his own mother reported to authorities he was bragging he’d “steal more cars” if released.

A screen grab from the video showing the damage done to the windscreen of the car during the Beach Rd hit-run.

His mum said she’d visited her son and his brother in youth detention on March 7, where she raised concerns when the pair said “as soon as they were released from custody they would continue to steal cars”.

Justice James Elliott said the boy’s promise had “largely come to pass”.

Six days after he was given bail on March 21, the Supreme Court heard he was contacted on social media by other young people committing crimes who “encouraged him to take part”.

Justice Elliott said, “When the horn beeped outside the residence, he knew exactly what was going on”, and got into the dark coloured Mercedes believed to have been stolen in an aggravated burglary.

The car was seen speeding at more than 150km/h on the South Gippsland Highway at Tooradin at 12.52am on Wednesday.

It was stopped with spikes 45km away in Cheltenham – near where the cyclist hit-run occurred – before four youths fled from the car.

Three were arrested, among them the boy, 14, while the driver remains on the run.

When His Honour announced on Thursday he’d be refusing release following the latest bail breaches, the boy picked up the table he’d been sitting at in youth detention and flung it across the room.

He then picked up a chair and threw it towards the video screen linking him into the Supreme Court.

The Holden Astra police believe was used in the hit and runs. Picture: Instagram

His defence barrister, David De Witt, later told a children’s court he’d “experienced a level of distress after the decision” and refused to attend his further hearings.

The boy had been on three sets of bail, including for the alleged hit-run of a cyclist on Beach Rd on January 23, which was filmed and put on social media.

It’s believed the 14-year-old was the passenger recorded urging the driver to “hit him, hit him, hit him” before the cyclist was struck and left for dead on the side of the road.

He’d been on bail over those charges and an earlier alleged car theft when he was accused of breaking into a Wonthaggi home on February 27 and stealing keys for a Mazda, which was later involved in two petrol drive-offs and sideswiped another car.

The boy was arrested after a policeman, who knew the child, saw him behind the wheel of the stolen car.

Glen Gibson was allegedly deliberately mowed down on Beach Rd.

It was for these charges he was seeking release in the Supreme Court on Thursday, despite breaching bail by smoking a bong with an older residential care housemate, breaking curfew and getting into the stolen Mercedes.

Noting that officers were forced to use spikes to stop the stolen car after a high-speed chase, Victoria Police prosecutor Amitoj Singh told the Supreme Court “it’s a mere coincidence no-one was seriously injured or killed”.

Mr De Witt said the boy was a passenger in the car and there was “no evidence whether he knew the car was stolen”.

But Justice Elliott challenged that assertion, stating there was “evidence he was told about it on social media that was what they were doing”.

Mr De Witt flagged new amendments to the Bail Act, in force just this week, that he said were in his client’s favour of being released again.

Ultimately His Honour was not persuaded, finding the boy was too much of an unacceptable risk to the community and would likely breach bail “almost immediately” if granted release again.

All of the serious alleged offences for which the boy has been held in custody occurred at a time he was in state care.

Since mid-2023, when he moved into residential care, he’d run away 46 times.

The boy was remanded in youth detention and will return to a children’s court next month.