Ipswich teens jailed for Toowoomba home invasion involving stabbing, stolen cars

‘Just a big group of deadbeats’: Two teenagers were high on Xanax or drunk during a violent and bloody home invasion at Toowoomba that left a man stabbed and beaten, a court has been told.

Generic crime Istock - Criminal with knife weapon threatening to stab

Two Ipswich teenagers have been sentenced to serve 10 months behind bars for their involvement in a violent home invasion that left a Toowoomba man stabbed.

The Toowoomba Children’s Court heard the two 17-year-old boys, two men, and another person, went to two Toowoomba homes in search of drugs and cash on June 20, 2023.

However, it is unknown which offenders carried out acts of violence during the one incident at Newtown, where a 29-year-old man was stabbed in the leg and hit in the head with a tyre iron.

The boys pleaded guilty to a raft of charges which included robbery while armed in company occasioning body harm, break and enter to commit an indictable offence, possessing a knife in public, and unlawful use of a motor vehicle, and were each sentenced to 20 months detention on May 3, at the Toowoomba Children’s Court.

Judge Deborah Richards said although the boy’s actions were not clear, they were well aware of the seriousness of the situation.

“It was no surprise that when the three people who were in (the house), which was one of you boys, or maybe both of you, that people were going to get injured,” she said.

“It doesn’t really matter whether one of you was outside or not because you knew that the others were armed, that they were going to break in, and that as a result, people were very likely to get at least stabbed, if not worse.”

Demands for drugs, a safe, and money

The court was told about 30 minutes before the group allegedly smashed their way into the Newtown home, they attempted to get into a unit at Drayton.

Crown prosecutor Emily Coley said when they arrived at the Drayton unit, someone in the group knocked on the door and asked to buy cannabis.

When the young man told the group he did not sell drugs, they all pulled out knives and began kicking at the doors and windows.

Ms Coley said the victim, who was home with a woman, armed himself with a knife and began plunging it through the screen door at the group, who in turn plunged their knives through the door.

They eventually fled after being told police had been called, and soon after descended upon the Newtown home.

Ms Coley said after no one answered the door, some members of the group smashed their way into the home through a window, and forced their way into a room where a man and woman were hiding.

The group demanded the pair hand over any drug or cash they had, before separating the pair into separate rooms.

Ms Coley said the male victim was then threatened at knifepoint before being stabbed in the leg and hit in the head with a tyre iron.

The two teenagers fled the home in the victim’s car, which was spiked soon after by police who had followed it from the house.

When police searched the car they found one knife and a bank card on one of the teens, which was stolen from a car during the earlier attempted break-in at Newtown.

The pair spent 317 days in custody before they were sentenced before the Toowoomba Children's Court on Friday, May 3, 2024.

The ‘ringleader’

Both of the young men, now 18, were subject to parole orders at the time of the offending, and had minor criminal histories relating to property offences.

However, the court heard the youngest of the pair, who was high on Xanax at the time of the crime, made admissions to being a leader of the group.

The boy’s single mother was in court and told Judge Richards she worked two jobs to pay for his private education.

Judge Richards told the boy: “you have a mother that has been paying for your private education while in custody”.
“She cannot afford that, can she? And causing her to… watch her son get taken off into custody, that’s a terrible thing to do to your mum and a terrible thing for your little brothers and sisters,” the judge said.

“I’m sure they look up to you, you’re a big brother, both of you (are).

“Some of (your siblings) will be looking at you (two) going ‘I want to be just like my big brother,’ so have a think about that when your mates are saying, ‘come out and let’s get on the grog and do something stupid’.”

One of the teens had just been released on bail before he went on the commit further offences.

Crime committed hours after being released on bail

The court was told the oldest teen was only nine days off turning 18 at the time of the crime and was released on bail hours before the crime occurred.

Judge Richards told the boy his actions were aggravated by his recent time in custody, which was for similar offending.

“You went straight from the watch-house to your group of deadbeats which is all this group is, it’s just a big group of deadbeats,” she said.

“You went straight to them and that very night took another car, or were involved in the theft of another car.

“You went from one property where people were screaming and terrified and said they’re calling the police to another one.”

The teen instructed his legal team he drank an unusually large amount of alcohol and was drunk at the time.

Sentence

Judge Richards told police prosecution and the boy’s legal team their submissions on sentencing were too low, and she was not considering any conditional release orders.

“You’re so lucky that boy wasn’t more injured or you would be looking at five, six, seven years in detention,” she told the pair.

The court heard the men charged in relation to the incident are still before the courts.

The boys pleaded guilty to a raft of charges which included robbery while armed in company occasioning body harm, break and enter to commit an indictable offence, possessing a knife in public, and unlawful use of a motor vehicle, and were each sentenced to 20 months’ detention on May 3, at the Toowoomba Childrens Court.

Judge Richards said the pair, who both aspired to take up mechanic apprenticeships, had promising futures if they applied themselves.

“You’re both smart, but you’re very self-destructive so you need to change that behaviour,” she said.

“I think there are some quite promising futures in front of you if you can just keep your head down and do the right thing.”

After serving 50 per cent of the jail term, they will be subjected to supervision within the community for at least 10 months.