A private school boy who committed a series of serious offences has been given a dressing down by a judge who told the 16-year-old he could still make something of himself if he stopped acting like a “jerk”.
Judge Michael Burnett gave the lecture as he sentenced the teenager on eight charges including attempted armed robbery in company and robbery in company with damage to property in Brisbane Youth Court on July 5.
The boy previously pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery in company, unlawful use of a gray Kia Optima and theft of fuel from gas stations while on the road.
Crown prosecutor Tom O’Brien told the sentencing hearing that the teenager turned to offending after taking up bodybuilding and with possible “overexposure to social media, including misogynist” Andrew Tate.
The boy had left home at 15 to live with his “fellow child gangsters”, began taking the drug Ice and received “praise” for the group’s criminal activities on social media, his defence lawyer Allana Davie said.
Ms Davie said the boy’s criminal behaviour was the result of a “perfect storm” of factors, including his parents’ divorce and difficulties at school, including bullying.
However, Judge Burnett said the “middle-class” boy had shown a “lack of gratitude” for the privileges his parents had granted him.
“Your parents have made enormous sacrifices. I hope they will pay the private school fees they paid over the years to help you,” Judge Burnett told him, according to him. The courier mail.
Queensland Judge Michael Burnett (pictured) has given a stern talking to to a private school teenager who committed a series of serious offences.
“It is a very poor recognition of the effort your parents have made.”
The judge said he understood the boy’s father had “a somewhat venomous attitude” towards his mother, but said the defendant needed to realise his mother was still “building a home” and trying to support him and his three half-siblings.
Judge Burnett did not accept the defense’s argument that the boy’s behavior was a result of being bullied.
“You were probably acting like an idiot instead of being bullied,” he told the defendant.
‘You just have to put up with it. If you act like a jerk, expect to be told so. Don’t think of it as harassment.
The judge went on to say that bullying “is just a fact of life, get used to it.”
“We all know that life is challenging for young people,” Judge Burnett said.
‘But much of what is called bullying is not bullying at all, but is people responding to inappropriate social behavior.
‘Sometimes that means you just have to accept it and reflect on your behaviors. Do you understand that?
“Yes,” the boy replied.
“And you accept that this is what you should do?” the judge insisted.
‘Yeah.’
The defendant pleaded guilty to a two-page juvenile criminal record in Richlands Juvenile Court on Nov. 9. where a restorative justice order was issued.
That order has not been complied with because the boy has been locked up in a juvenile detention center for seven months.
The court heard the boy had begun idolising “misogynistic” social media star Andrew Tate (pictured) and received “praise” on social media for offences committed by his group.
The teenager’s criminal record relates to pointing a gun and threatening a man who challenged him for urinating in a car park at the Brookside shopping centre in Mitchelton, in Brisbane’s north-west, in September.
His latest sentence relates to pointing and cocking or “cocking” a gun from the window of a stolen car at a 14-year-old boy at a bus stop near Maroochydore at 7.30am on September 4 last year and demanding he hand over his phone.
Despite being only three metres away, the ‘terrified’ victim was able to flee.
Police found a photo of the boy posing with the same gun on his friend’s phone.
“We don’t know if the firearm was loaded or not, but it doesn’t matter,” Judge Burnett said in sentencing the boy to 18 months of probation.
‘The fact is that when you stopped next to this young man, you leaned out of the window (of the stolen car), appeared to have cocked the gun and demanded that he hand over his phone.’
“I have 40 years of experience in the military and when you handle a weapon you have the intention of using it, that’s what it means.”
The boy also pleaded guilty to participating in two fuel collection drives during this September crime wave.
On January 10, he and a co-defendant entered a Brisbane home and threatened the resident with a 15cm knife and a cricket bat before taking the keys to her Kia Optima.
Judge Burnett did not record any conviction and encouraged the teenager to follow in the honoree’s footsteps. war hero Mark Donaldson, whether he still wanted to join the SAS or other elite forces as he had previously stated.
Judge Michael Burnett said the boy should emulate the example of Mark Donaldson, who despite trouble with the law as a teenager won the Victoria Cross.
“There’s a guy who won the Victoria Cross called Donaldson, who had an experience not dissimilar to yours, and he won the Victoria Cross in Afghanistan about 10 years ago,” Judge Burnett said.
As a teenager, Mr. Donaldson was forced to spend a night in a jail cell after his father decided to teach him a lesson after he and some friends stole something. detonators from a train yard and let them explode in a park.
Judge Burnett said such redemption was possible for the boy if he “made the effort” and “proved over this time that he was a good citizen and did something positive with his life”.
The child needed to demonstrate to his ‘caring parents’ the ‘“We owe them due respect and acknowledge the efforts they have made to help him as best they could,” he continued.
“You have potential, I understand that you didn’t like your education, but there are many opportunities out there,” the judge said.
“All you have to do is find what you like and what you are good at and put it into practice.”
