Two juveniles will spend time in custody after they were found guilty of a break and enter incident last year that left a homeowner with serious injuries and was labelled as an “act borne from the darkest recesses”.
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The 13-year-old and 18-year-old males fronted the District Court at Moree on Wednesday September 12 and pleaded guilty to the charges of special aggravated break and enter and commit serious indictable offence.
At about 8.30pm on November 19 2017, the then-12 and 17-year-olds broke into a home at Boland Drive.
The 79-year-old homeowner had only just gone to bed after a visit from her daughters, and was set to leave for a cruise the next day.
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After she “heard a loud crashing sound like glass breaking” she walked to the kitchen and found a hole in the sliding door.
The woman heard voices outside and turned on the back light in the hope to scare away the intruders.
The victim opened the door when the two juveniles entered the home.
The victim was assaulted with a brick and a piece of timber. It was described in court that the offenders “laughed and swore” at the injured woman before the pair made off with more than $1,000 from her handbag.
A doctors assessment of the victim at the time identified injuries such as a nasal fracture, significant bruising of the left eye and bruising and swelling over the left side of the face.
DNA obtained from the bricks, piece of timber and victim’s handbag linked the 13 and 18-year-old to the incident.
At the court session last Wednesday Barrister J Curtis said the 18-year-old’s history of trauma should be taken into account in the sentence.
“He is marginally a young man embedded in an anti-social lifestyle for many years,” he said.
He said the 18-year-old had a lifestyle entrenched in crime and that he associated with young people who also took drugs.
Barrister J McKenzie said the 13-year-old shared a similar history of abuse.
“You only have to look into his family history … subjected to violence and alcoholism … [he has] been de-sensitised and doesn’t have a solid grasp on the consequences.”
Judge M Marien said that although he would give full weight to the clients’ backgrounds, “the offence was so violent, cruel and gratuitous that questions of protecting the community must arise”.
He said that comments from the juveniles in the lead-up to the court session even suggested an element of planning.
“Both agreed on the victim’s home because they knew a “white person” lived there.”
Judge Marien handed down the sentences on Friday September 14, which had the potential weight of 25-years imprisonment.
The 13-year-old was sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment with a non-parole period of two years. The 18-year-old was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of four years.
