17-year-old jailed for ‘sickening’ attack on child at Casuarina Square

A ‘sickening’ attack by a 17-year-old left a young boy suffering a seizure on the cement ground of a popular shopping centre.

A 14-YEAR-OLD boy was left with a traumatic brain injury following a “sickening” attack at Casuarina Square shopping centre.

His 17-year-old attacker, who cannot be named for legal reasons, scooted away from his young victim as the boy went had a seizure on the cement ground.

The teenage offender appeared before the NT Supreme Court last month, with Chief Justice Michael Grant condemning the assault as “callous, unfeeling and unprovoked”.

The teenager pleaded guilty to bashing the boy in the carpark of the popular shopping centre on August 22, 2021,

The court heard the 14-year-old and his three friends were leaving Casuarina Square, when they were approached by the older teen and two 12-year-olds “looking for trouble” and planning on robbing him.

Approaching via an elevated loading bay platform the 17-year-old loomed over the boy, with his head only reaching the level of the older teen’s waist.

The 17-year-old asked the younger boy for a cigarette, which he did not have, and asked him what was in his bag.

“You then kicked the victim in the head savagely and without warning,” Justice Grant said.

“It was cowardly, it was unprovoked and it was brutal.”

The 14-year-old fell to the ground, his head hitting the concrete. For two minutes the boy shuddered on the ground in a seizure.

Justice Grant said the younger child suffered a traumatic brain injury, two bleeds on his brain and a fracture to the base of his skull.

But the 17-year-old did not stick around to help, riding off on his scooter. He avoided police for 24 hours until his arrest.

He was later granted bail but reoffended two months later for unrelated offences

“As a consequence you have been remanded in the Don Dale Centre since that time – for

which you have nobody to blame but yourself,” Justice Grant said.

Justice Grant said the teen’s criminal history was truly kicked off following the assault and he was later found guilty of unlawful entry, possessing an unlicensed firearm, stealing, possessing ammunition, property damage and obtaining a benefit by deception.

“That is a record of which you should be ashamed and concerned,” Justice Grant said.

But Justice Grant also acknowledged the teen’s “upsetting” childhood marred by trauma, with 46 child protection notifications on his record since he was just six months old.

The teenager told the court that if he stayed in Don Dale he hoped to complete his final year of school, get his drivers licence and a steady job.

“I would urge you to follow through with that, because education is likely to be one of your saving graces,” Justice Grant said.

“If you do not do those things, I can tell you from bitter experience that it is almost

certain that your life is going to spiral into dysfunction and further criminal activity and

further periods of imprisonment.’

On March 23, the 17-year-old was sentenced to two years in detention, to be suspended after six months where he will be under strict supervision initially through the Saltbush program.

“You are very fortunate that he (the 14-year-old) did not die, because you would then be before this court on a far more serious charge and face a far longer period of imprisonment,” Justice Grant said.