By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A 17-YEAR-OLD boy has been released on bail after being charged over two carjackings at knifepoint – one of them in Casey Hospital car park.
On Thursday, a children’s court was told the boy was charged with three armed robberies, two attempted armed robberies, two thefts, theft of a motor vehicle, unlicensed driving, being equipped to steal and three counts of obtaining property by deception from 3-8 August.
An Embona armed robbery detective told the court the boy allegedly used a kitchen knife to threaten a man who was sitting in his dark-coloured Yaris speaking to his mother on a phone in Clayton on 3 August about 9.20pm.
After demanding the victim’s mobile phone and wallet, the boy and another male – who has not been arrested – drove off in the victim’s car.
Four days later, a man driving a Honda Civic was followed and blocked in by the Yaris after he parked at Casey Hospital in Berwick about 6.20pm.
His car, mobile phone and wallet were stolen under threats by the boy and his earlier accomplice, one brandishing a knife and the other a stick.
In the interim, the pair allegedly bought food and beverages from an Oakleigh fast food outlet using the Yaris victim’s credit card and stole fuel from servos in Noble Park and Springvale.
The pair also allegedly threatened a man at knifepoint and stole food and a GPS from his car in Oakleigh on 3 August.
The boy was accused of being in a group travelling in the Yaris that attempted two armed robberies in Clarendon Street, Cranbourne, at 4.10 and 4.25pm on 7 August.
He was also accused of being among a pair who robbed a female walker of her wallet and fled by foot in Brookland Greens, Cranbourne, at 7.45pm the same day.
The boy was also accused of being among a group smoking cannabis bongs at a Mulgrave house and driving the Yaris unlicenced through Beaconsfield, Cranbourne and Dandenong in the early hours of 8 August.
He and another male equipped with scissors tried to break into two cars in Dandenong. Using the scissors, the male broke into and started a red Nissan, in which the pair travelled to a fast food outlet. They used the Civic victim’s credit card to buy food on two occasions.
They returned to the Mulgrave house, where they and another male were arrested and charged with the thefts of the Yaris and Nissan.
The detective told the court the boy made partial admissions but showed no remorse during a police interview.
In granting bail, the magistrate said: “Given the nature of the offending which is serious, there’s no doubt risks associated with the release of the applicant.
“Bail conditions can be formed so that the risks are not necessarily an unacceptable one.”
The boy was released on the condition that he lives at a nominated address with a night curfew, not associate with five named males, be subject to a youth justice supervision program with drug and alcohol treatment and vocational support, not contact prosecution witnesses and not drive a car.
He was bailed to appear at court later this month.
