Youth crime Qld: Repeat offender trio in tragic illustration of the state’s youth crime crisis

Three repeat juvenile offenders from disadvantaged backgrounds who have all spent time in custody have once again come before the courts to be sentenced for violent offending.

Three repeat juvenile offenders from disadvantaged backgrounds who have all spent time in custody have once again come before the courts to be sentenced for violent offending.

In a tragic display of the state’s youth crime crisis, the children aged from 12 to 16, each faced the Children’s Court of Queensland on Thursday for sentence.

The two boys and one girl are all unknown to one another but all share similarities including substance abuse issues and fractured home lives – circumstances regularly faced by juvenile offenders who come before the courts.

At least two of the children are known to Child Safety, with the 12-year-old offender now living in state residential care.

All three repeat offenders have previously come before the courts for a range of offences and the two older children committed the latest offending in breach of probation orders.

An 11-year-old defendant and his friends targeted random victims, including a boy on a train.

The youngest defendant was just 11 when he committed the series of “brazen and opportunistic” crimes against innocent young victims across Brisbane from December 2022 to March this year.

The child and his friends targeted random victims, including other children at a movie theatre, a boy on a train and young woman riding a scooter, physically attacking the complainants and attempting to steal property.

The now 12-year-old has spent 138 days in custody this year.

His tragic upbringing was detailed in court including an addiction to chroming, lack of parental guidance, instability and exposure to domestic violence.

He was sentenced to 12 months’ probation.

The female defendant was aged just 13 when she was bitten by a police dog while fleeing from a stolen car that was being tracked by a police helicopter after she brutally assaulted another teenage girl.

The girl, now 14, was on probation for more than a dozen offences including break ins and car thefts when she was arrested while fleeing from the stolen car in September.

The court heard the girl was known to Child Safety and had experienced a disadvantaged background which included poor family circumstances and substance abuse issues.

She was sentenced to six months’ probation.

The eldest of the three was aged 15 last year when he committed a series of terrifying armed hold-ups, including an incident in which a young female service station attendant was threatened at knifepoint in the middle of the night.

He was also involved in the knifepoint robbery of two boys in the botanic gardens and was involved in a scuffle with a female bottle shop employee who attempted to stop him stealing a case of alcohol.

His lawyer said the teen, now 16, experienced a “difficult, dysfunctional and sad upbringing” which included significant disruption to his education and that he had extremely low speech and literacy abilities and with his offending spurred by drug use.

The teen spent more than four months in custody and was sentenced to a conditional release order and a restorative justice order.

No convictions were recorded for any of the offenders.

Originally published as Youth crime Qld: Repeat offender trio in tragic illustration of the state’s youth crime crisis