A teenage boy who stabbed a Launceston taxi driver during an armed robbery has avoided a conviction, after a judge heard he had turned his life around.
The boy, who was 14 at the time, ordered a taxi from a payphone on Invermay Road in the early hours of August 8, 2025.
Driver Gurpreet Singh picked up the boy and his co-accused, Seth Cooper-Hanfling, near the Invermay IGA at about 4:55am and drove them to Rocherlea.
After several minutes getting in and out of the taxi, the pair stalled on paying the fare before Cooper-Hanfling demanded everything Singh had. Both were holding knives.
The boy leaned forward from the back seat and stabbed Singh in the left shoulder, in an act captured on CCTV.
Singh was stabbed a second time in the arm as he handed over cash.
The court did not determine who inflicted that wound, but found the boy criminally responsible for it as part of the joint robbery.
The driver gave the pair between $350 and $400 before pressing his taxi’s panic button and driving off.
Singh has since struggled emotionally and physically, the Supreme Court heard.
He can only do modified duties and now avoids the general public, losing between $1,000 and $2,000 a week in income.
Justice Stephen Estcourt said the boy had experienced “extreme trauma” and “profound childhood deprivation”, including exposure to family violence, abuse and parental drug use.
The court heard the boy had a serious substance abuse problem last year, including a fentanyl overdose, but had since stopped drinking and using illicit drugs.
The boy pleaded guilty and was assessed as high risk of reoffending, although Estcourt said that may no longer reflect his circumstances given his progress.
Estcourt said the boy had accepted responsibility and expressed remorse and was now engaged with school and counselling.
The boy was placed under youth justice supervision for 12 months and ordered to complete 70 hours of community service.
Estcourt said it was “not appropriate to impose a conviction”, given the boy’s age at the time of the offending and his limited prior record.
