Toutai Kefu home invasion: Knife-wielding teens should not have conviction recorded

Kid crims who invade Queensland homes armed and attack residents with knives in “heinous” acts should not have convictions recorded against them, the state’s highest court has ruled. HAVE YOUR SAY

Toutai Kefu speaking to media outside his property following the home invasion. Picture: Tara Croser.

Kid crims who invade Queensland homes armed and attack residents with knives in “heinous” acts should not have convictions recorded against them, the state’s highest court has ruled.

In a decision handed down on Tuesday morning, three Court of Appeal judges declared that the two teens who stormed the home of Wallabies rugby legend Toutai Kefu in the middle of the night armed with knives, seriously injuring two family members and badly injuring two others, should not have a conviction on their record.

The Attorney-General filed an appeal in the case after Justice Peter Davis sentenced the pair in June last year to eight years and seven years respectively, but they only needed to serve half before they could be released, meaning one offender was due to be freed six months later and is now free.

Former rugby union star Toutai Kefu, his wife Rachel and their five children – Joshua, Madison, Olivia, Isaac and Lucia – were all at home when a young gang attempted to rob their home. Picture: David Kelly

This was despite prosecutors arguing for more than the maximum 10 years for the crimes that they committed on the morning of August 16, 2021.

The boy who only injured Mr Kefu has served the entirety of his sentence and is in the community, and the boy who injured both Mr Kefu and his wife is to be released from detention on August 18 this year, the decision states.

Justices Peter Flanagan, Martin Burns and Sean Cooper on Tuesday threw out the Attorney-General’s appeal stating that they had failed to prove that the two teens sentences were “manifestly inadequate” or that convictions should be recorded against children.

Not recording convictions helps children with their rehabilitation, the decision states.

“The Attorney-General seeks to disturb the ‘well established (principle) that the prima facie position under provisions such as ss 183 and 184 of the (Youth Justice Act) is that a conviction is not to be recorded against a child’,” the 35-page decision states.

File picture: Stills from a home owner's CCTV, from a youth break-in at Bulimba.

The Attorney-General appealed the sentences Justice Davis imposed on four counts of malicious act with intent arguing that the time in custody ordered in respect of both teens, in combination with a discount in the time that needed to be served before they could be released and the non-recording of convictions, resulted in overall sentences that were “manifestly inadequate”.

The teen who injured Mr and Mrs Kefu, was 15 years and 10 months old at the time, and was sentenced to eight years for two “particularly heinous” crimes of malicious act with intent.

Mrs Kefu was attacked with a sickle in what Justice Davis described as “a completely unnecessary act”.

Former rugby union star Toutai Kefu and his wife Rachel were both injured in the home invasion. Photograph David Kelly

The boy who only injured Mr Kefu, and was 15 years and eight months old at the time, was sentenced to seven years for one “heinous” crime.

This child stabbed Mr Kefu with a knife, while Mr Kefu used a stool to protect himself.

“The proposition that a child is entitled to the benefit of not having a conviction recorded to assist with their rehabilitation unless the sentencing judge is positively satisfied that a conviction should be recorded, is supported by an established line of authority of this Court which has not been overruled,” the three judges stated in their decision.

“It is apparent from the sentencing remarks that the sentencing judge (Justice Davis) identified the basis for his Honour’s exercise of discretion not to record convictions. This included the reasons given in relation to ordering release after (the teens) had served 50 per cent of the detention period. His Honour’s decision is not one which lacked an evident and intelligible justification,” the appeal court ruled.

File picture: A still from a home owner's CCTV in Bulimba.

During his sentencing Justice Davis said the crimes may justify a conviction being recorded but he stopped short of ordering it.

“The offending here is very serious, the seriousness of the offending may itself justify the recording of a conviction,” Justice Davis said.

“However, as I have earlier explained, neither of you have prior convictions before the current offending, and neither of you have had the benefit of supervision pursuant to orders under the Youth Justice Act.

Former rugby union star Toutai Kefu in his Coorparoo home. Photograph David Kelly

“Both of you have taken the opportunities that have been presented to you whilst in detention.

“In those circumstances notwithstanding the seriousness of the offending, no convictions ought to be recorded,” he said.

Both juveniles pleaded guilty to seven charges including burglary, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, and four counts of malicious act with intent.

One teen pleaded guilty to two extra charges, including the assault of youth justice campaigner Ben Cannon, a neighbour of the Kefu family who went to their rescue on the night of the attack.

Both teens spent three years in juvenile detention before their sentencing.

The pair were originally charged by police with attempted murder but after a plea deal with the Director of Public Prosecutions the charges were downgraded.

Kefu’s neighbour, Ben Cannon, who was there at the time said the latest decision was disappointing.

“It’s definitely not good enough,” he said.

“The criminals that want to behave this way, roam the street and inflict this sort of pain on our community, are protected by our justice system.

“The only thing you can say is, this justice system is upside down, because that in itself, represents the huge failing in who the justice system is there to protect.

“And you would think, common sense would tell you that the justice systems are there to protect those that don’t commit crimes.”

Mr Cannon said the decision meant him and his family could finally get closure.

“It’s good to be able to move on and to have all this behind us,” he said.

“I definitely think what today has proven with the outcome is that victims are once again being forgotten and once again being the last ones that are considered in any of these decisions.

“Therefore, as a community of victim survivors, we’ll continue to fight.”

Mr Cannon said he believed the offenders should have their names tied to it and convictions recorded.

“The only reason no one died that night, with all that happened that night and all the stabbings that occurred, was just a miracle,” he said.

“Just an absolute miracle, and the fact that they then got this long winded understanding of how sad their lives were as some sort of justification for why they did what they did.

“Sorry is not good enough for these people to walk into a courtroom in front of a judge and say, “oh, now I’m remorseful”

Originally published as Toutai Kefu home invasion: Knife-wielding teens should not have conviction recorded