By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A pair of 13-year-old boys are accused of a 24-hour spree of car theft, home invasion, burglary and thefts from vehicles in Narre Warren South and Berwick, a children’s court has heard.
During one of the dozen or more break-ins, two teenage girls hid while the accused boys allegedly rummaged through their Narre Warren South home on 27 September.
The girls barricaded themselves in a bedroom as the intruders – one armed with a hunting knife –tried to enter the room, the court was told.
During the burglary, the co-accused pair allegedly stole items including a wallet, Mercedes Benz car key and a laptop.
They were arrested by police in a blue Nissan Pulsar that they had allegedly stolen hours earlier from Lynbrook.
Inside the car, police found numerous items stolen during the 24-hour spree.
On 26-27 September, the pair allegedly broke into six other cars, tried to break into four others and burgled a primary school and two other homes.
From one home, they allegedly stole $12,000 of goods including jewellery, an electronic tablet and a cordless drill.
At another home burglary, a machete was left behind on the toilet floor.
During their no-comment interviews, they were “uncooperative, destructive and aggressive” as well as threatening police while in custody, a police member told the children’s court on 1 October.
Both were bailed despite police opposition – who argued they were an unacceptable risk of endangering the community.
The pair had been both cleared of similar offences by a children’s court in August due to being found doli incapax.
That is, they were not mature enough to understand the difference between right and wrong or the nature of their offending.
The court heard the boys will be assessed for possible doli incapax in this case.
One of the boys lived with his mother who had mental illness, a disability and was supported by Child Protection services.
He had been without a case worker for some time due to a lack of available male workers, and had been unoccupied during school holidays, the court heard.
“There needs to be a child protection focus,” the magistrate said. “The family needs more support.
“It’s sad that we have capacity to lock young people up but not an availability of male mentors to work one-on-one with (the accused) at this point.”
The other boy lived in residential care – where he had been allowed to stay out until 9pm, the court heard.
He had been assaulted during a previous stint at a juvenile detention centre, the court was told.
The magistrate granted the boys bail because of their age and the need to keep them “out of the system”.
There was no evidence to show that the boys knew the teenage girls were in the house, the judge noted.
Their “risk” to the community was being managed with conditions such as supervision, a 6pm night curfew, and bans on driving a motor vehicle and associating with one another.
