Goondiwindi teen crime spree heard in Toowoomba District Court

A teenager has faced court for cutting a man’s finger during a horrifying Goondwindi motel robbery after driving a stolen car.

TOOWOOMBA, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos DECEMBER 13, 2023: A general view of the the Toowoomba Courthouse. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

A teenager has pleaded guilty in Toowoomba District Court on Wednesday to four charges after a violent night of crime in Goondiwindi in December 2022.

The teenager appeared in custody via videolink and was arraigned for unlawful use of a motor vehicle to facilitate the commission of an indictable offence, burglary by break and enter with violence while armed and in company, wounding, and one count of attempted armed robbery while in company.

The court heard on the night of December 11, 2022, the teen with another co-offender, drove a stolen Mitsubishi ASX and at 1.30am broke into a unit at Goondiwindi Motel with other co-offenders and tried to get in through a window, while another person kicked the front door open and one of the offenders cut a man’s finger with a knife.

That same night, “you and others tried to steal keys and a wallet from a person walking home”, chased after the person and attacked them with metal bars, the court heard.

Before setting a sentence date, Judge Richards insisted the teen appear in person for his sentencing, after he missed his sentence date on Monday, April 29.

“You can sit in custody until you decide you want to come, it’s no skin off my nose,” she said.

“You’ll eventually be sentenced to adult jail if you don’t come.”

The teen is expected to appear in Toowoomba District Court on Friday, May 10, 2024 for sentencing.