Two Toowoomba 16-year-olds plead guilty in Childrens Court of Queensland to robbery in company with personal violence

What started as a friendly interaction between a 14-year-old and a group of teenagers ended in violence when the boy was robbed of his shoes and bag in a terrifying incident.

Two 16-year-olds have been sentenced over a violent robbery of a 14-year-old boy, who had a bag and his new Nike shoes stolen during the incident.

The teenagers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared in Childrens Court of Queensland in Toowoomba on Thursday where they pleaded guilty to robbery in company with personal violence.

The court was told the victim was near Toowoomba library about 7.30pm on November 3, 2021, when he was surrounded by a group of five teenagers.

An adult in the group demanded the boy hand over his backpack and Nike shoes, Crown prosecutor Nicole Friedewald said, and when the victim refused he and one of the teenagers grabbed the bag.

One of the 16-year-olds pulled the strap of the bag over the victim’s head, and as he fled the second 16-year-old chased him down, grabbed him from behind and punched him in the back of the head.

The court was told the teenager took the victim’s shoes and phone from him, throwing the phone on the roof of a nearby building.

Ms Friedewald described the offending as “gratuitous, cowardly and cruel behaviour”, that saw the two teenagers outnumber and overpower the victim for the robbery which was motivated by a need for money to buy drugs.

Barrister Wes Seewald and solicitor Hamish Chapman, representing the two teenagers, said both of their clients were remorseful and had expressed shame for their actions.

Mr Seewald said his client had expressed a desire to relocate to St George to remove himself from the negative peer group he had fallen in with since he had disengaged with school last year, while Mr Chapman said his client was open to engage with opportunities afforded to him by youth services as part of any sentence.

Both teenagers said they were willing to take part in a restorative justice process with the victim.

Judge Vicki Loury QC said the two teenagers were mature enough to understand that if they don’t change now they faced the prospect of lengthy periods of detention, or time inside an adult jail.

The 16-year-old that grabbed at the victim’s bag strap was sentenced to nine months detention, while the teenager that struck the victim sentenced to 12 months detention. Both periods were immediately suspended, with the pair to be released from detention under a conditional release order for three months. No convictions were recorded.