Teenage girl who terrorised 76-year-old wheelchair user gets prison wake up call

A young girl has pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to multiple counts of aggravated robbery after an ‘extremely concerning series of events’ in Alice Springs last year.

The teens tipped the man out of his wheelchair, searched his pockets and stole his wallet with $900 inside.

A teenage girl who “repeatedly terrorised” a 76-year-old wheelchair user because she “thought he would be an easy target” has had “a significant wake up call” after spending six months in jail.

The girl, who was aged between 14 and 15 at the time and cannot be named, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to multiple counts of aggravated robbery after the “extremely concerning series of events” in Alice Springs last year.

The court heard the victim was “extremely vulnerable” when the girl visited his house on September 3 because he was known to sell cigarettes and she “thought it would be an easy place to get cigarettes and cash”.

She broke into his unit armed with a claw hammer handle along with another youth, with the pair then “yelling at him and demanding money and cigarettes”.

“You both then tipped him out of his wheelchair,” Justice Jenny Blokland said.

“One of you searched his pockets and stole his wallet with $900 cash inside.”

Three days later the girl returned to the unit and asked to buy cigarettes but when the man opened the door she forced her way in, punching him in the jaw and again stealing his wallet.

Two days after that she again broke into the man’s unit while he wasn’t home but when he returned “searched his pockets and pushed him around” before robbing and threatening to kill him if he called the police.

The next day, the girl was arrested and bailed but later that night returned to the man’s unit where she again tried to break in using a wooden pole to smash the kitchen window, fleeing when police arrived.

In suspending the girl’s 12-month jail sentence after almost seven months served, Justice Blokland said she had experienced “ongoing violence and excessive alcohol consumption” between her parents as a child.

“(A pre-sentence) report also notes that you would be subject to physical violence as a form of discipline and your father has actually been incarcerated for domestic violence,” she said.

“I do expect this has been a significant wakeup call for you about the consequences of being involved in the criminal justice system and I hope it has served as some deterrent for you going forward.

“The prevalence of property offences, at times accompanied by violence, in Alice Springs is concerning, as is the psychology behind this particular offending and offending like it but in particular here, targeting repeatedly an elderly vulnerable man.”