Teenage robber threatens judge, throws TV screen at him before trying to leave the dock

A teenage robber who threatened to ‘hurt’ a judge before throwing a TV screen frame at him and trying to leave the dock ‘in a threatening manner’ has been sent back to Don Dale.

A teenage boy who threw the frame of a TV screen at Supreme Court Justice Stephen Southwood has been sent back to Don Dale.

A TEENAGE robber who threatened to “hurt” a judge before throwing a TV screen frame at him and trying to leave the dock “in a threatening manner” has been sent back to Don Dale.

The now 16-year-old, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to armed robbery and contempt of court after the outburst on July 1.

Justice Stephen Southwood said the boy told him “Sir, I’m going to hurt you if you don’t sentence me, sir” before he was restrained by security staff as he tried to get away.

Justice Southwood said the boy’s lawyer, Nicola MacCarron, had applied for the robbery case to be adjourned so a plan for his release could be arranged when he “very violently expressed a desire to be sentenced without conditions”.

The court heard the boy was 15 in November last year when he threatened an attendant at the Bagot Rd United servo with a claw hammer before ripping a till with $484 in it from the bench and fleeing the scene.

During the hearing it emerged that the boy possibly suffered from Ganser syndrome, “a rare and controversial condition that is defined by a single symptom, which is that the subject gives approximate but incorrect answers to simple questions”.

The provisional diagnosis was a result of outlandish comments the boy made, including the belief he can fly, see through walls, is “God-like” and wanted “to chop someone’s head off”.

“Clean off, with a samurai sword,” he said.

“I would slit your throat, all while smiling.”

A subsequent review was unable to confirm the diagnosis, with the boy telling a psychologist he was “just talking shit”.

“I was making jokes and stuff and they took me seriously,” he said.

“Now what? Everyone thinks I’m going to kill someone. That’s not me.”

In sentencing the boy to three years and nine months in Don Dale, Justice Southwood said under the circumstances he had no alternative.

“It is understandable that the youth found these proceedings frustrating, however, the youth has behaved in such a way, while in detention and subject to a good behaviour bond, that it merits appropriate punishment,” he said.

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“It is an extremely serious matter for an offender, whether a youth or an adult, to threaten the presiding judge with harm and to throw an object at the judge and then attempt to leave the

dock.

“It is important that this court clearly demonstrates that such behaviour will not be tolerated.”

The boy will be eligible for parole after two years.

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