Boy who allegedly launched frenzied drug fuelled attack on elderly man denied bail

A TEENAGER who allegedly launched a series of frenzied drug and alcohol fuelled attacks on an elderly man as he sat in his car at the Freds Pass reserve has been denied bail

• Harvey Wade: 92-year-old victim on the mend and back with ‘family’
• Elderly residents told to travel in pairs after string of ‘deplorable’ attacks

A TEENAGER who allegedly launched a series of frenzied drug and alcohol fuelled attacks on an elderly man as he sat in his car at the Freds Pass reserve has been denied bail.

The incident came after the boy had allegedly drunkenly groping two women.

Harvey Wade, 92, was left with a broken nose after he was attacked at the Freds Pass markets in January, allegedly by a 16-year-boy.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named, appeared in the Supreme Court on Friday after prosecutors appealed a decision by the Youth Justice Court to release him on Monday.

In reversing that decision, Chief Justice Michael Grant said the boy was already facing prosecution for two alleged indecent assaults at the Berry Springs Nature Reserve when he “came out of nowhere” to allegedly attack 92-year-old Harvey Wade in January.

Chief Justice Grant said the boy had drunk a litre of rum the previous night and was likely still intoxicated when he went to the reserve with two friends on the morning of July 12 last year.

“He swam up to one of the females and groped her on the left breast and grabbed her bikini bottoms,” he said.

“When he was challenged by that woman, the (boy) stood up and held a clenched fist towards her in a threatening manner.”

After allegedly groping another woman, the court heard the boy swam back up to the group and allegedly grabbed one “particularly vulnerable woman” as she tried to get away and groped her on the crotch.

Chief Justice Grant said the boy told police he was so drunk he had no memory of the incident, which “of course, should have been a lesson for him”.

However on the morning of January 30 this year, Chief Justice Grant said the boy had again been drinking and took about a gram of “MDMA or methamphetamine” when “without warning” he pulled open Mr Wade’s car door and started calling his daughter, Karen McEwin, “a whoring slut”.

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“Then also without warning, the (boy) punched the 92-year-old man who was sitting restrained in the passenger seat approximately six times to his body causing him severe pain and bruising,” he said.

“(He) then slammed the door shut and commenced punching the passenger window while shouting and screaming – this obviously caused the alleged victims great fear.”

Chief Justice Grant said after initially walking away, the boy then came back to the car and again allegedly attacked the defenceless Mr Wade, this time repeatedly punching him in the head and breaking his nose in several places.

In remanding the boy in Don Dale, Chief Justice Grant said while the detention centre was “less than ideal in present circumstances” the risk he posed to the community could not be adequately addressed by bail conditions.

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“(There is) a real concern about the safety and welfare of members of the community being put at risk in the event that the (boy) is released,” he said.

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