A teenager who threatened a father with bolt cutters in front of his crying children during an armed robbery has been sentenced to six months in youth detention.
The boy, who cannot be named, was 14 when he and a 17-year-old accomplice stole a KTM 450 motorcycle from a Kings Meadows home in the early hours of December 12, 2024.
The Launceston homeowner woke to find the pair wheeling the bike down the street. When he and his wife confronted them, the situation turned violent.
The teenager dropped the motorcycle and began to run, but then returned.
Armed with bolt cutters, he told the complainant: “If you don’t drop the bike, I will bash your head in.”
His accomplice approached with a raised hammer while the man’s two children, aged five and two, stood watching and crying.
“Please do not hurt my dad,” the five-year-old said.
The father told the pair: “Just take the bike and f—k off, my kids are out here, please do not do anything in front of the kids.”
The accomplice threatened to return “with a gun and shoot you” if police were called.
Supreme Court Justice Kate Cuthbertson said the complainant reported he had “never experienced such fear in his life”.
The worst part, he said, was “finding out how young” the offenders were.
“His five year old child kept asking if the men were coming back for weeks,” Justice Cuthbertson said.
The teenager had been released from Ashley Youth Detention Centre just one week before the robbery.
His criminal history includes carjacking, burglary and assault.
Justice Cuthbertson noted the boy’s father died by suicide in 2021, followed by his grandfather’s death.
He has been diagnosed with depression and ADHD.
Despite his extensive record, the judge sentenced him under youth justice provisions, citing his age and rehabilitation potential.
“You strike me as someone with a lot of potential,” she said.
“But you need to make some good choices on a consistent basis or else things will go very poorly for you in the future.”
