Teenager assaults co-offender, steals his shoes after violent break-and-enter

An accomplice to a violent break-and-enter assaulted his fellow criminal, stole his shoes, and had his father bashed.

A 16-year-old boy appeared at Children’s Court in Gympie, and answered to a string of charges complicated by his shaky upbringing, the judge told the court.

A Gympie teenager assaulted his co-offender in a violent break-and-enter before stealing his shoes, a court has heard.

The 16-year-old boy appeared at Children’s Court in Gympie on April 2 2025 on charges of burglary and robbery in company with personal violence, and assault occasioning bodily harm in company.

Judge Glen Cash told the court the teenager, along with a group of young men, went to the property of a 59-year-old man in November, 2023, “seemingly motivated to try and steal cannabis”.

The 16 year old who appeared in Gympie’s Children’s Court on April 2 had a troubled past, Judge Cash told the court.

The defendant, who was 15 at the time, was alleged to not have entered the house, while the others broke in and assaulted the owner with the neck of a guitar.

“That caused him some bruising and other soft tissue injuries,” Judge Cash said.

The group of four, including the teenager, were then seen leaving the property before police found them nearby.

Judge Cash said the teenager was understood to have had a falling out with one of the burglars a month later when they encountered each other at a school oval.

The defendant, and others, were alleged to have then assaulted the boy and stolen his shoes.

The following day, that same boy was with his parents when the three encountered the defendant, who was with a group, and asked that his shoes be returned.

“That led to a confrontation in which it seems all involved behaved poorly,” Judge Cash told the court.

At some point, the defendant and the boy’s father ended up in a struggle on the ground, and the defendant called out to his group, “boys, back me up”.

Someone in the group was alleged to have then kicked the father in the head.

Judge Cash told Gympie’s Childrens Court the 16 year old was showing signs of maturing, and had developed a good relationship with his Child Safety Officer.

The judge told the court the defendant had a substantial criminal history, including unlawful use of a motor vehicle, assault, threatening violence, and numerous beaches of bail.

“You have had a very difficult background,” Judge Cash said.

“Both of your parents have passed away, your mother when you were an infant and your father when you were only about six.

“From then, you have been in various kinds of foster care or kinship care, but nothing, it seems, which was very stable.”

The judge said the teenager’s volatile upbringing affected his ability to settle down at school, but that since moving to Gympie in 2022, he had formed a good relationship with his Child Safety Officer.

“You are growing up, you are getting more mature,” Judge Cash told the teenager.

“You have got plans to go enrol in school, I assume at the flexi school, with a view to furthering your education. That is very much to be encouraged.”

Judge Cash told the court the teenager has expressed a desire to seek professional help to deal with his childhood trauma.

The defendant was sentenced to a 12 month probation, and his convictions were not recorded.

Originally published as Teenager assaults co-offender, steals his shoes after violent break-and-enter