Toowoomba teenager’s year long crime spree ends with jail term

The teenager appeared before the court via video link from the prison to plead guilty to 35 offences.

The stolen car carrying the five teenagers crashed into a Greenwattle St house after colliding with another car.

A TEENAGER involved in a serious two vehicle crash on Greenwattle St in a stolen car has been jailed for nine months.

Keeran Lachlan Frith had been subject to probation and a community service order for previous offences when he and four juveniles had crashed the stolen car into another vehicle driven by a 75-year-old man with a 12-year-old girl passenger on Greenwattle St on November 6 last year.

The stolen vehicle carrying the five teenagers crashed into a house after colliding with another vehicle on Greenwattle St.

The cars collided with such force that the 75-year-old’s car was sent into a spin and the stolen vehicle crashed into a nearby house.

The group of teenagers ran from the scene but were later found by police.

Frith, 18, appeared by video link from the prison on Friday to plead guilty before Toowoomba Magistrates Court to unlawful use of a motor vehicle and associated charges arising from that incident as well as to more than 30 other offences including stealing goods from department stores in Toowoomba and Brisbane which he swapped for drugs, public nuisance, possessing dangerous drugs and breaching bail.

Police at the scene of the two car crash on Greenwattle St rounded up a number of the teenagers near the scene.

He had also worn a mask and waited for a Priceline Pharmacy in Toowoomba to open its doors at 8am, November 17, in attempt to steal.

Frith’s crime spree which stretched over most of 2020 had begun just weeks after being placed on probation and ordered to do 60 hours community service by the same court on January 14 last year.

A Probation and Parole officer told the court the teenager had not engaged with either order and had done none of the 60 hours.

Frith’s solicitor Ryan McCullough, of MacDonald Law, told the court his client had endured a difficult upbringing and had started using cannabis as 13 before moving onto methamphetamine and living on the streets for a time.

Upon his release from jail, his client intended moving to Stanthorpe to live with his mother and get away from peers in Toowoomba, he said.

Acting Magistrate Roger Stark declared 52 days pre-sentence custody as time served and sentenced Frith to nine months in jail but ordered he be released on parole on February 23.