A 16-year-old girl who was part of a group that tortured a younger girl for four hours at a Sunshine Coast home in March last year walked free from court on Thursday.
Maroochydore District Court heard the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and two other girls lured a 13-year-old girl to a house in Tewantin, where the victim was “cut” with a knife, told They tied her hands and forced her. to lick her feet.
The abuse that shocked Australia was filmed and uploaded to social media, later going viral on TikTok.
The teen’s “parents have failed her,” her lawyer told the court, and she will return to a residential care facility. No one from her family was at the sentencing hearing.
Judge Gary Long sentenced the girl, who trembled during the hearing, to two years in detention, with full suspension and a probation order, ABC reported.
A 16-year-old girl who was part of a group that tortured a younger girl for four hours at a Sunshine Coast home in March last year walked free from court on Thursday. An image of the attack is shown, published on social networks.
The 16-year-old was also sentenced for “repeated and recent” offenses this year, including assaulting a youth support worker and stealing alcohol from bottle shops.
The prosecutor said the girl should be sentenced to prison based on her crime and the previous sentences imposed on her accomplices.
Instead, he got a suspended sentence, 160 hours of community service and has to attend rehabilitation programs, psychological evaluations and other treatments.
Her solicitor, Simon Lewis, told the court the teenager’s parents were “not much help to her”.
“When he visits his father, he gets drunk with him until he loses consciousness.”
The 16-year-old is subject to a long-term guardianship order and is in the care of the State.
In April this year, the girl twice attacked a support worker, biting his hand and hitting him in the stomach with a shoe, leading to charges of assault occasioning bodily harm, the court heard.
A juvenile justice official said he had complex and challenging behavior, trauma and substance abuse to deal with heightened states of emotional “dysregulation.”
Judge Long said the four-hour assault on March 11, 2023 was “extremely traumatic” and saw the 13-year-old victim subjected to “disgusting” taunts, spit on, punched, cut with a knife and forced to lick her feet. of the girls. among other ‘degrading’ acts.
The accomplices lured the girl into the house, then locked the doors and took her phone and shoes.
The second major offender took photographs before the attack, after which they injured the girl all over her body, leaving her bleeding, bruised and swollen.
He was temporarily unable to see with one eye and also suffered a broken wrist.
After the attack, they walked the girl home while she was wearing only a bra and shorts, and stopped at a friend’s house to brag about what they had done.
At the 13-year-old girl’s house, they stole a hair straightener and perfume and told the girl that her family would be killed if she ‘snitched’.
They accompanied the family when they took the victim to hospital, trying to ensure that the girl said she had been “assaulted” by unknown attackers.
The second oldest of the gang of attackers posted a video of the torture on TikTok and called it “very funny.”
When the video started receiving negative comments, she tried to downplay her involvement and blamed the older girl as the person behind it all.
The court heard three girls lured a 13-year-old boy to a house in Tewantin, where the victim was “cut” with a knife, had her hands tied and was forced to lick her feet. An image of the assault is shown.
At Maroochydore District Court (pictured), Judge Gary Long sentenced the girl to two years’ detention, suspended entirely, and a conditional release order.
No conviction was recorded and the judge told the 16-year-old that if she continued committing crimes she could soon be tried as an adult and could end up in jail.
“The result here today is to make several concessions to your situation and what have been shown to be some prospects for your future,” Judge Long told the girl.
When the judge asked her if she understood it was about making changes to her circumstances, she said quietly, “Yes, your honor.”
The teen was also warned to stop abusing substances, including alcohol.