Detective: ‘Anyone who keeps doing this should not be on the streets’

A 14-year-old boy described by police as one of the state’s most prolific youth offenders has again been granted bail despite fears he “will continue to offend almost immediately in a high volume”.

A 14-year-old accused of a three-day crime spree who police describe as “one of our most prolific youth offenders” has been bailed for the 50th time, leaving victims “baffled”.

Police say the boy living in state care – who earlier had 388 charges struck out due to his young age – was tracking police air wing choppers online during a three-day rampage of home invasions and car thefts.

An officer, who opposed bail, told a children’s court on Monday that some of the notorious teen’s victims were baffled he could be re-released into the community.

“Anyone who keeps doing this should not be on the streets,” one had said.

“He’s one of our most prolific youth offenders” the ­detective said of the boy who had already been granted bail 49 times but “continued to commit offences”.

One of the state’s worst youth offenders has been bailed for the 50th time. Picture: Supplied

The officer labelled the boy a risk to the lives of innocent ­motorists following a history of police pursuits in stolen cars and offending that “just has not stopped”.

But a magistrate granted him bail again on Monday, stating the teen had already spent 63 days behind bars, and suggested his carers “step up their supervision of him”.

Along with conditions she set for bail, the magistrate said the other overlay of supervision “ought to be the state” because the boy was in state care.

Despite his prior charges, the magistrate said the boy had “an extremely limited record” after he was found doli incapax, or unable to be held criminally ­responsible, for prior offending when he was aged under 14.

In the latest allegations, he was accused of breaking into cars and homes and stealing vehicles with others in a three-day crime spree in Hampton, Malvern East, Beaumaris and Cheltenham on September 11 -13.

The court heard the boy had been released just days earlier – on September 6 – on a six-month youth supervision order over a separate home invasion.

He had already been subjected to a 10-month youth supervision order for similar crimes that a magistrate had labelled as “revolting”.

The detective told the court the boy had “shown a pattern of behaviour no matter what’s before him … (he) will continue to offend almost immediately in a high volume”.

A prosecutor argued against the boy being granted bail, raising concern that he “often ­absconds from his residence and keeps offending”. He said the boy faced a “strong circumstantial case” with CCTV ­depicting his likeness at crime scenes and his phone pinging near the addresses.

But a defence lawyer said there was “no forensic evidence” linking the boy to the crime spree, and that CCTV depicted only a likeness to the boy’s body shape and clothing.

The magistrate agreed, saying it did not appear to be to be a strong identification case, while the phone tracked was the boy’s mother’s.

Despite Youth Justice finding him unsuitable, the boy was placed on supervised bail and was to be released to face court in person on Tuesday.