Teen behind violent St Kilda machete attack refused bail

A 15-year-old boy who slashed a defenceless victim over the head with a machete in a terrifying armed robbery in St Kilda has begged to be released on bail.

A 15-year-old boy has dismissed slashing a defenceless victim over the head with a machete in a terrifying armed robbery as being drunk.

Shocking footage captured the moment the brute chased down a man and struck him with the machete after he refused to hand over his car keys and phone in St Kilda on January 12.

As he fronted a children’s court on Wednesday, the teenager pleaded guilty to armed robbery, intentionally causing injury and assault over the bloodied attack – before begging to be released on bail pending any sentence.

But magistrate Jack Vandersteen said the teenager was a danger to the public and should remain locked up.

The president of the children’s court pushed for an explanation for the violent machete attack.

“The instructions that I have was that (he) was intoxicated,” the boy’s lawyer said.

But Mr Vandersteen said that does not explain why he had travelled on the train to Melbourne from a regional Victorian town with a machete down his pants.

The teen chased down a man and struck him with a machete after he refused to hand over his car keys. Picture: 9News

He was also concerned that it came off the back of the youth committing other violent crimes involving weapons and random attacks on strangers.

“He was on intensive bail when he committed these offences,” Mr Vandersteen said.

The hoodlum also admitted a crime spree including carjackings and assaults from May last year to his arrest at Southern Cross train station a day after the machete attack.

He pleaded guilty to possessing a prohibited weapon after he took a large hunting knife, secreted in a Woolworths shopping bag and wrapped in a jumper, to school on May 23.

In another incident, on June 10, he asked a friend to film him attacking a passenger on a bus, punching him to the nose with a closed fist for no apparent reason.

On September 7, he was involved in another carjacking at a shopping centre car park, where his female co-accused threatened to stab the victim if he didn’t unlock his vehicle.

Two days later, a nurse who had just finished the night shift was his next victim, putting him in a headlock and demanding his car keys and punching him three times in an attempted carjacking.

The victim was taken to hospital after the machete attack. Picture: 9News

The court heard how the teen thug boasted about his offending online, sending Snapchats to friends depicting him driving stolen cars on the wrong side of the road and at speeds of up to 180km/h.

The wayward teen also admitted multiple thefts relating to putting fuel in a stolen car and driving off without paying on six occasions throughout October.

Speaking directly to the boy in court, Mr Vandersteen told him weapons, in particular machetes, were dangerous.

“I’ve been asked to let you out. I’m not going to do that because I am concerned you are going to hurt someone,” Mr Vandersteen said.

“At some point, you will be released. You can’t keep getting into trouble. Because when you get in trouble, people get hurt. You really just have to stop.”

He will sentence the youth on March 20.