Accused teen driver went missing for 52 hours and failed to attend a Youth Justice appointment
A VCE student accused of driving a stolen car in a deadly smash in Burwood is the son of two highly respected professionals who work closely with children, it can be revealed.
Police & Courts
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A teen driver who allegedly killed a trainee doctor in a horror smash is the son of two highly respected professionals who work closely with children, it can be revealed.
On Wednesday in children’s court, the private school boy’s mother cried as his bail was revoked.
He went on the run for two days following charges over the crash that claimed the life of William Taylor.
The 17-year-old had only been on bail for 36 hours when he breached his court ordered curfew on Sunday.
The boy, who cannot be named, went missing for 52 hours and failed to attend a Youth Justice appointment before police took him back into custody on Tuesday night.
Facing court on Wednesday, it was revealed the boy believed his curfew – which ordered him to stay home with his mother from 7pm to 6am – was too restrictive while he was “in the midst of doing his VCE” studies.
A magistrate granted a prosecution application to revoke his bail, considering him too high a risk to remain in the community after police and his mother had “no idea of his whereabouts” from 2.30pm on Sunday to 6.30pm on Tuesday.
When he returned home on Tuesday night, he was promptly arrested after his mother alerted police.
The boy sat in the dock of the children’s court, with his head down, as a magistrate told him he would be going into custody.
“It was non negotiable, you had those conditions … for bail from the get-go,” she told him.
She said she was “compelled” to consider the boy an unacceptable risk, and that it was a “terribly worrying situation that (his breach) has occurred so soon”.
Prosecutors, in seeking the teen’s bail be revoked, said there was “no evidence at this stage he has grasped that concept” of the seriousness of the charges he faces.
The boy’s lawyer said while “obviously it’s disappointing” he wasn’t contactable for two days, his phone had been seized by police.
“That’s not to excuse him for not complying with his bail conditions,” the lawyer said.
The boy is accused of being behind the wheel of a stolen Jeep Cherokee with five other people when it hit Mr Taylor’s car in Burwood while travelling at more than 100km/h last Tuesday. After the Jeep crashed into Mr Taylor’s Toyota, it slammed into a tree before six people jumped out and fled on foot, with some youths allegedly seen pulling off latex gloves later recovered by police.
Mr Taylor, described as a “quiet, intelligent and thoughtful young man”, died at the scene.
The Ashburton man had been driving home from football training about 7pm on Tuesday when he died.
The teen faces charges of culpable and dangerous driving causing death, unlicensed driving, theft of a motor vehicle and failing to stop and render assistance.
He will return to a children’s court later this month.
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