Teenager, 16, in court over Manton Dam crash that killed Palmo Stingah

In sending the boy back to Don Dale, Justice Peter Barr said his rehabilitation would go ‘hand-in-hand with protection of the community in future’.

NT Police mark out the scene of the fatal crash on the Stuart Hwy at Manton Dam. Picture: Floss Adams.

A friend of a young Palmerston rapper who was also injured in the crash that killed him was diagnosed with PTSD aged just seven after being exposed to domestic violence, a court has heard.

The now 16-year-old, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to aggravated robbery and unlawful use of a motor vehicle stemming from the events leading up to the fatal crash.

The court heard the then 15-year-old participated in an armed hold up of an Adelaide River service station in July last year before the group of five boys took off in a stolen LandCruiser, driven by a then 14-year-old.

The car crashed about 50km north of the servo on the Stuart Highway and the 15-year-old rapper, known as Palmo Stingah, was killed after all five boys were ejected from the vehicle.

In sentencing the teen to 14 months in prison, suspended after four months, Justice Peter Barr noted he had been “exposed to instability and violence as a young child”, including “threats of violence as well as actual violence”.

“It’s noted that your mother took such steps as she could to keep you and your sister safe,” he said.

“A psychiatric update in 2015 referred to your emotional immaturity, your self-regulation deficits, oppositionality, defiance and aggression and hostile reaction to adults — all of those things which are often seen in chronically neglectful or abusive environments.”

Justice Barr said the boy was also diagnosed with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and the primary sentencing objective should be his rehabilitation and support.

“This goes hand-in-hand with protection of the community in future,” he said.

However, Justice Barr said it was “particularly unfortunate” that the boy had again been involved in similar offending in March this year, after telling social workers he was “trying to change my ways”.

“It is reassuring that the recent institutional report from the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre is to the effect that you are respectful, compliant and polite, and that you respond quickly to direction in relation to acceptable or unacceptable behaviour,” he said.

“The fact that you reoffended in March of 2023 complicated sentencing considerations in your case — you let yourself down there — nonetheless, I’m encouraged by your attitude in Don Dale and the way you’ve conducted yourself.”

Don Dale understaffing forces kids to be locked in cells for days

Child detainees in Don Dale Youth Detention Centre were locked down for 22 hours a day for three days last week due to staffing shortages, a court has heard.

A 16-year-old boy who was a passenger in a stolen car that killed his friend when it crashed in Manton Dam last July returned to the Supreme Court on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to robbing a service station prior to the crash.

The court heard the boy, who cannot be named, was among the group that also included the aspiring rapper, known as Palmo Stingah, when they robbed the Adelaide River Puma servo on July 3 armed with weapons, including a garden mattock.

Another boy, then aged 14, smashed open the cash register and the boys fled with cash and tobacco products with the 14-year-old taking the wheel of the stolen LandCruiser.

Crown prosecutor Ian Rowbottam said the car then crashed about 50km north of the service station, rolling and colliding heavily with a tree, with all occupants ejected from their seats.

The young rapper suffered fatal injuries and the 16-year-old’s lawyer, Jackson Meaney, said he was “fortunate to be alive” but had been “coping well” in a detention centre under strain as resources were diverted to the Howard Springs flood evacuation centre.

Mr Meaney said his client had achieved the second highest level of behavioural classification at the centre but had still been locked down with everyone else, only to be let out of his cell for two hours a day.

The crash wreckage at Manton Dam. Picture: Floss Adams

“These are onerous conditions that have been imposed, at times, and (he) is coping within that system, he’s respecting the youth justice officers, he’s participating and engaging in class,” he said.

Mr Rowbottam agreed that “compared to many of the youths around Darwin, he’s managed to stay out of trouble to a large extent” and should not necessarily spend any more time in custody.

“I’m aware of significant difficulties in that centre at the moment, and if this young man has managed to stay out of those difficulties that very much goes to his credit,” he said.

But Mr Rowbottam said the boy had apparently not heeded the warning of his friend’s death after his bail was revoked following another break-in in March and he should have a significant suspended sentence “hanging over his head”.

“The public are sick of this,” he said.

“This isn’t just about (the youth in question), in fact there were thousands of people out the weekend before last protesting about crime in the NT and crime on our streets.

“Even young people wandering into anywhere with a weapon the size of a mattock can cause immense damage, so the difficulty that your honour has is to balance the community disquiet.”

The boy returns to court for sentencing on Thursday.