Desperate mother says she barricades door, installs security cameras to keep an eye on teen son

A mother says she’s resorted to barricading an exit to her 15-year old son’s bedroom and installing a CCTV camera outside the room as she tries to stop him from joining Melbourne’s youth crime wave.

A mother has barricaded a rear exit to her wayward teenage son’s bedroom and installed cameras around the family home in a desperate bid to keep him under control.

She has resorted to the drastic measures after the 15-year-old boy allegedly turned to a life of crime since becoming “bored” when he could no longer play football due to an injury.

The mum said her usually happy son, who cannot be identified due to his age, began “mixing with the wrong crowd” last year, then lying about his whereabouts and sneaking out at night.

He is now facing dozens of charges relating to car thefts, high-speed police pursuits and aggravated burglary.

In a quest to get her son freed from detention, the woman testified in the Supreme Court she would do anything to get him back on track.

“He will not be leaving my sight,” she promised Justice Christopher Beale if he was to bail her son.

“I will be walking him to school. I will be walking him to the gym. He will be in my sight for a very long time.”

To avoid him breaching curfew and sneaking out, she revealed she had CCTV installed, with one camera fixated on the door of his bedroom.

The mother told the court she had installed a CCTV camera outside her son’s bedroom to keep track of him. Picture: Stock image

She said she would sleep with the monitor in her room to be alerted if he is on the move.

The mother also had locked the rear door to his bedroom and put a bar across it so he can’t use it.

The youth was finally thrown in Parkville youth detention last month after being repeatedly arrested, charged and bailed since December.

His mother said he had found the 11 days already spent in detention “not fun”, adding he had hopefully learnt his lesson.

In his latest alleged crime spree, police say he led them on a wild pursuit in a stolen Alfa Romeo for more than one and a half hours through Melbourne’s southeast suburbs on September 19.

The teen is accused of filming himself boasting about driving stolen cars, showing the odometer reaching speeds of up to 230km/h, and posting them to Snapchat.

When questioned by arresting officers about his speeds, he remarked that he “didn’t think it was that fast”.

The court heard he was only bailed a week earlier for allegedly committing an aggravated burglary with five other youths on September 12.

He first came to police attention in December, then again in February, March, May, August and September.

On March 31, he was bailed for reckless conduct endangering life, reckless conduct endangering serious injury, unlicensed driving, and motor vehicle theft.

He was further charged on summons with two car thefts and a theft on May 10.

Since being locked up in youth detention, the court heard he had been involved in an altercation with another detainee.

The teen served 11 days in the Parkville youth detention after being repeatedly arrested. Picture: Stock image

Justice Beale said the boy’s latest offending, driving at excessive speeds, travelling on the wrong side of the road, and weaving in and out of traffic while being chased by police, was “appalling”.

“I’ve watched the Air Wing footage It’s just good luck that somebody wasn’t killed or seriously injured,” he said.

“It happens whilst he is on bail for another matter. He’s associating with an alleged offender whom he wasn’t supposed to be associating with.

“And he thinks it’s all a great laugh because he films himself whilst he is driving that he stole an Alfa. It’s appalling.”

But Justice Beale agreed with the boy’s lawyer that it was “highly unlikely” he would be given a custodial sentence due to his lack of criminal priors, and the children’s court’s focus on rehabilitation.

He granted him bail, saying there was a risk the boy would develop “dangerous associations” with more seasoned juvenile offenders if he remained on remand.

He warned the teen: “How you go over the next weeks and months will have a big bearing on what happens. Ultimately, what happens in the children’s court. More so, what happens in your future.

“There are plenty of kids who have had a taste of youth detention, and say they don’t want to go back there. Then they stuff up. Then they graduate to adult prison and they have a miserable life.

“I’m sure your mum doesn’t want that for you – and I’m sure you don’t want that for yourself.”

Justice Beale told the teen that if he breaches bail, he would be unlikely to get the chance again.

“So make the most of it,” Justice Beale said.