A Launceston teenager who threatened to stab an international student before stealing his phone has been given a chance to stay out of detention.
The boy, who was 15 at the time and cannot be named, pleaded guilty to armed robbery and was sentenced in the Supreme Court in Launceston in July.
In his recently published sentencing remarks, Justice Robert Pearce said the crime was so serious that detention was the only appropriate sentence.
“The only question is whether I should suspend it and give you the opportunity to avoid having to actually serve it,” he said.
“I have decided to give you that chance.”
He sentenced the boy to 12 months’ detention, backdated to account for the 36 days he spent in custody after his arrest, with the remainder suspended.
The court heard the boy rode his bike up to the 22-year-old University of Tasmania student on a bridge near the Inveresk student accommodation around 7:30pm on September 29 last year.
He pulled a knife from his pocket, threatened to stab the man and demanded his iPhone.
He then forced the student to unlock and wipe the phone before riding off with it. The phone has never been found.
The boy was caught on CCTV and arrested in October. He admitted the robbery to police.
Justice Pearce said the boy was affected by methylamphetamine at the time and the student feared throughout the ordeal that he would be stabbed.
“It is an extremely serious crime,” he said. “You confronted a man you did not know in public and threatened him with a knife with serious, possibly fatal violence.”
“The reason that crimes of this nature are so serious is not because of the property involved, but because of the terrible psychological impact, often lifelong, that victims may experience.”
The court heard the boy had grown up surrounded by violence, abuse, drug use and neglect. He also has autism and ADHD.
He had repeatedly offended since the age of 14, with two probation orders doing little to change his behaviour.
“If you were an adult there is no doubt that you would be going to prison for a long time,” Justice Pearce said.
But the judge said the boy’s guilty plea, his move into a new unit and his claim that he had stopped using methylamphetamine counted in his favour.
A conviction was recorded. The boy must also complete 49 hours of community service, comply with youth justice supervision conditions and pay compensation to the student.
