By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A man has been sentenced over an armed teen group’s “truly horrendous” invasion of a sleeping family’s home, in which one of the residents was stabbed in the chest.
Duop Leek, then 18, of Clyde North, roamed with three other males aged 15-17 looking for a car to steal in Berwick in the early hours of 12 July 2021.
About 2.10am, they kicked in the front door of a family of five’s home.
They stormed into the main bedroom, held up the residents and stole the family’s BMW X5 vehicle, three phones and $70.
An awoken resident was told at knifepoint to “stay in bed or I’ll cut you”.
He was later slashed in the upper arm by one of the teens and had a knife pushed through his chest muscle by another intruder.
As the chest wound bled, the man thought: “I hope I’m not in too much trouble here.”
He was later treated at The Alfred for non-life-threatening wounds.
One of the residents, 19, tried to call triple-zero but had trouble speaking so his mother took over the call.
“I can only imagine the fear and the trauma that the family experienced,” sentencing judge Stewart Bayles said on 12 October.
The family had been “over-powered and outnumbered by people with weapons”, the judge said.
They had told the court of being “haunted” by the night’s events, with the parents saying they would never forget the looks on their children’s faces.
“This is a truly horrendous incident for the victims,” Judge Bayles said.
“To invade a family home in this way in the middle of the night, kicking the front door open, entering the bedroom of otherwise sleeping people with children in the house and the parents no doubt fearful for themselves and their children…”
On that night, the intruders picked up three female companions waiting in a nearby park and drove the stolen BMW across Melbourne.
They evaded a set of police stop sticks before hitting another set. All seven fled on foot and were arrested by police in Melbourne’s west.
Now 20, Leek pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to aggravated home invasion, armed robbery, causing injury recklessly and theft.
It was not alleged that Leek was armed or that he inflicted any of the injuries, Judge Bayles noted.
The sentence must “make a statement” about the seriousness of this type of crime, the judge said. A mandatory jail term would normally apply.
However, Leek was instead sentenced to detention in a youth justice centre due to “exceptional and rare circumstances”.
Judge Bayles noted Leek’s low-to-borderline IQ range and Attention Deficit Disorder, which made him more susceptible to undesirable influences in adult prison.
His mental illness would also make prison a greater burden for him, and put him at risk of being entrenched in the criminal system.
He was also at a young age and with no prior convictions.
Since the incident, Leek had been on supervised bail without similar offending for two years.
He had engaged positively with Youth Justice supports, despite committing a minor shop theft.
Unlike Leek, the most serious co-offenders were sentenced in a children’s court. They have been since detained in a Youth Justice Centre.
Judge Bayles rejected a defence submission for a community corrections order.
He ordered Leek to be detained in a Youth Justice Centre for three-and-a-half years. His term included 33 days in adult remand.
