The Chief Justice of Tasmania’s Supreme Court has reminded a teenager who robbed a bottle shop while armed with a knife that there are “a lot of people” who want to help them “stop doing crime”.
The 15-year-old was sentenced to eight months in detention and 18 months probation after pleading guilty to carrying out the armed robbery at the Cellarbrations Mowbray store in December.
Chief Justice Alan Blow said the teenager pulled out their knife after the manager, who had noticed suspicious behaviour, took their bag.
The teenager eventually left the store with three four-packs of premixed drinks, but left the bag with their name in it behind.
They were later located and arrested by police and have remained in custody since.
“It is clear to me that some bad things have happened to you in the past and that you have got all sorts of problems,” Chief Justice Blow said in his comments on the sentence.
“But there are people willing to help you … There are a lot of people that want to help you to stop doing crime.”
“It would be awful if you end up spending time in gaol when you are older.”
The Chief Justice said the teenager had a clean criminal record prior to the incident and sentenced them to eight months detention from 9 December 2023.
“Armed robbery is a serious crime because of the mental health problems that it can cause for robbery victims,” he said, adding that was why the teen has been held in detention since.
“I … sentence you to some time in detention as a punishment and … make a probation order so that you can get some help from youth justice workers.”
The teenager was also told to pay the store back for the stolen drinks.
