A teenage beating victim who nearly died after being repeatedly trampled by a gang of youths has unleashed a justice system that says her attackers are too young to know right from wrong.
The 15-year-old male victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was allegedly attacked by the group in the car park of a shopping center on Sydney’s Northern Beaches while walking home from school on March 18, 2024.
In the alleged racially motivated attack, the teenager received up to 60 blows to the head and was “stomped on repeatedly.” It was allegedly filmed and shared on social media.
Police allege the gang returned with Tasers and knives, and used them to electrocute the 15-year-old in the back and leg, before a stranger “stopped his car to save his life.”
Despite doctors saying the teenager would have died if he had not been wearing a bicycle helmet, several serious charges were dropped against the alleged 13-year-old gang leader.
The 15-year-old was allegedly the victim of a racially motivated attack on Sydney’s northern beaches (pictured). The 13-year-old ringleader of the gang had charges dropped due to his age and the fact that he did not know the difference between right and wrong in the eyes of the law.
The victim’s parents have pleaded with NSW Premier Chris Minns (pictured) to change the law.
The victim and his family were told that due to the offender’s young age, he “does not have the capacity to form criminal intentions” and could not distinguish right from wrong under the common “doli incapax” laws of New South Wales. .
Doli incapax ‘presumes that a child between 10 and 14 years of age does not possess the necessary knowledge to have criminal intent, that is, the child is incapable of committing a crime due to lack of understanding of the difference between good and evil’.
But the victim said she wanted New South Wales Premier Chris Minns to change the law “so the system doesn’t let other victims down,” he reported. The Daily Telegraph.
“At 13 years old, a teenager should distinguish between right and wrong,” the victim said.
‘Especially when the police have accused them and spoken to them on many occasions. Every teenager would know that it is a crime to brutally assault another person.
“I hope this causes a change in the law.”
The teenager now says he is a prisoner in his own home and is receiving death threats from the gang.
The victim also said he knew the difference between right and wrong “when he was eight years old.”
The teenager’s mother wrote to the Prime Minister begging him to change the law.
“While out on bail for the attack on our son, he continued to commit other serious crimes, including another serious assault on a child,” he wrote.
‘These additional charges must still go to hearing. By comparison, a 16-year-old attacker was immediately jailed for five months.
“We want to bring this to your attention as an example of our failed justice system,” he wrote.
NSW Attorney General Michael Daley (pictured) said the NSW government takes youth crime “seriously” and has recently “toughened up the laws”.
‘Our son has received repeated death threats since the attack and has to be escorted to and from school for his safety.
“Victims and police are fed up with these young criminals knowing they are untouchable and literally able to get away with anything.”
The mother said her son’s attack could be “a catalyst for change.”
New South Wales Attorney General Michael Daley described details of the attack as “disturbing” to the Daily Telegraph.
Daley said the government had “toughened up” laws this year and was taking youth crime “seriously”.
The Attorney General of New South Wales said that in New South Wales the minimum age of criminal responsibility is ten years old, but he says he does not give children a “free pass” as it is something that can be refuted if It shows that a child understood the seriousness of his crime. .
In the past, the High Court of Australia has recognized that children as young as 10 have the capacity to understand the seriousness of their actions.
