A teenager who took part in a violent escape from the Ashley Youth Detention Centre before robbing two tourists at knifepoint has been given a suspended sentence.
The 16-year-old, who can only be identified as KAL, was sentenced in the Supreme Court late last month on two counts of aggravated armed robbery.
The court heard he was on remand at Ashley in December 2025 when he and another youth attacked a staff member in a kitchenette.
At 6:44pm on December 18, the teen pushed the worker into the room and pulled out a homemade shiv – a whiteboard marker fitted with a protruding screw.
He restrained the worker and tried to wrestle keys from him while his co-offender stabbed the man near an artery in the back of the neck, then twice more in the back.
Another staff member was punched in the face by the co-offender after she begged him not to hurt her.
The male worker was taken to hospital with facial bruising, blurred vision and confusion.
The teenagers used the stolen keys to free other detainees, who rioted and armed themselves with fire extinguishers.
The group then stole a staff member’s Subaru WRX and drove out through the front door. Replacing the locks alone was expected to cost about $200,000.
The next morning, the boy and a different co-offender robbed a 69-year-old woman and her 34-year-old son outside apartments at Penguin, on the north-west coast.
One of the pair pointed an eight-inch serrated blade at them and demanded their car keys. The teen drove off and was arrested a short time later.
Both robbery charges related to the boy using or threatening violence to steal keys – first the detention centre keys, then the tourists’ car keys.
The rest of the offending, including the stabbing and riot, was dealt with separately in the Youth Justice Court, where he was given 22 months’ detention.
Justice Stephen Estcourt heard the boy had extremely low cognitive ability, along with ADHD and conduct disorder.
He said the teen had spent significant time at Ashley “during key developmental stages and risks being institutionalised”.
The judge described the centre as “the only home and safety he has known consistently in recent times”.
Estcourt said it was “regrettable” the law required the boy to be sentenced in two courts.
“… It is very hard to sentence separately for the indictable offences that must be dealt with in this court, in a fictional isolation from all of the associated offending for which sentence has already been imposed below,” he said.
He sentenced the teen to 18 months’ detention, wholly suspended on the condition he be of good behaviour for two years.
He also ordered him to complete 150 hours of community service and take part in education and health programs.
