Carjacking teen, 15, who dumped baby and toddler on the side of the road in 40C heat learns his fate
A teenager who stole two cars, both with young children inside, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison over the horror carjackings.
The 15-year-old boy from Kalgoorlie-Boulder stole a Kia Sorento from a driveway in West Kalgoorlie in WA's Eastern Goldfields in January.
He was under the influence of methamphetamine when he stole the car, a Perth Children's Court has heard.
After the teen discovered that a one-year-old and a 10-month old baby were inside the Sorento, he dumped them on the side of the road.
The two young children were left for 10 minutes in the 40C heat, until they were discovered by a member of the public.
CCTV vision captured from a neighbouring house showed the toddler appearing distressed while the baby lay face down on the hot pavement.
The children's screams could be heard in the footage.
Moments later, the teen crashed the stolen SUV and fled to a nearby recycling depot, where he hijacked a second car.
The mother (pictured) was seen screaming out for her nine-year-old son in the passenger seat
This time, a nine-year-old boy was sitting in the front passenger seat. Once again, a mother tried to stop the man from taking her car.
The court heard she was 'holding on for dear life' to the car door but was dragged along a gravel road and sustained injuries that required stitches.
'I didn't want to let go of the door handle' she told 9News.
The teen then sped off down a bush track.
The nine-year-old child, who had been warned by his mother about kidnappers, jumped out of the moving car after three minutes.
'The child feared for his life,' the court was told.
The teenager was arrested and charged with a raft of offences, including deprivation of liberty, aggravated robbery causing bodily harm, and driving-related charges.
Acting Children's Court President Mara Barone said the teen's conduct was 'serious and aggravated but acknowledged he had expressed regret over his actions.
He was already under a youth supervision order for previous burglary offences.
'There is no doubt that you understand the seriousness of your offending,' Judge Barone told him.
'You have expressed genuine remorse, and I accept that.'
The court heard the teen had endured 'significant and prolonged' exposure to drugs, having first used methamphetamine at age seven.
He has been held at Unit 18 within the adult Casuarina Prison since April, which the judge described as 'a more intense regime' than the Banksia Hill Detention Centre.
The boy's family had not visited him during his time in custody.
His behavior in detention was said to have improved markedly.
The teen reportedly told the court that his incarceration had been a 'wake-up call,' with no desire to return to substance abuse.
Judge Barone determined that a custodial sentence was the only appropriate response. 'An immediate term of imprisonment is necessary,' she ruled.
The teenager will be eligible to apply for parole after serving seven months.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BreakingNews.ie
2 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Clare man (28) jailed for sexual assault and coercive control of his former partner
A woman subjected to coercive control and sexual assault by her former partner has told a court he caused harm 'for his own amusement'. Martin Gooney (28) pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to coercive control and sexual assault. Advertisement The court heard that the victim wishes to retain her anonymity, but has no difficulty with Gooney of Cappabane, Scariff, Co Clare, being identified. On Monday, Gooney was handed a sentence of three years and two months. A post-release supervision order of 12 months was also imposed. Reading her victim impact statement during an earlier hearing, the woman stated that she checks her surroundings to see if Gooney is present and constantly questions her safety. 'The gaslighting was so relentless, he made me believe I was losing my mind and losing control of my being'. Advertisement She said his 'cruel' words and actions affected her sense of self-worth, and it has taken years to make progress, but his behaviour 'completely warped my perception of myself'. The woman said she has developed trust issues and dreads starting a new relationship. 'To compare him to an animal is an insult to the animal kingdom,' she said. 'This man caused harm for his own amusement'. Evidence was outlined that Gooney and the woman's relationship was initially fine, but over time, his behaviour became controlling and abusive towards her. Advertisement In August 2019, Gooney took her phone and used it to send messages to his phone. In these messages, he pretended to be the woman and suggested she was experiencing suicidal ideation. He then deleted all the messages sent between his phone and the woman's phone. She did not know the contents of these messages. Gooney sent these messages, which purported to be from the woman to her mother. He also used these messages during arguments with the woman, saying, 'Watch what you say, have messages from your phone'. Advertisement In early 2020, he found takeaway wrappers in her bin and accused her of seeing another man. The court heard the woman's mother had brought her a takeaway. Gooney was also verbally abusive to the victim, calling her a 'bitch', 'whore' and 'tramp'. During 2020, Gooney, who was no longer living with the woman, insisted she send him photos or Facetime him so he knew her location. On one occasion, the woman's friend had to send him a video to show she was with her. Gooney also placed a sofa in the woman's shed – without her knowledge – so he could stay and watch her. The woman wasn't initially aware that Gooney was staying in her shed. Advertisement He sexually assaulted her in March 2021. Afterwards, Gooney told her he 'wouldn't touch you with riddle stick, wouldn't know what you had, you're a whore'. The court heard there were other incidents of sexual assault. Gooney also said he was going to hang the woman's dog from a tree. Gooney has nine previous convictions, including for road traffic offences, assault and making a threat to kill or cause serious harm. When interviewed by gardaí, Gooney denied any wrongdoing. 'Sorry for the hassle' Gooney took the stand and read a letter of apology to the woman. He said he was 'sorry for the hassle caused' during their relationship. He said he was 'young and stupid' and 'selfish'. Gooney said he never thought about how his actions would make the woman feel or how they would hurt her. He told his defence counsel he was prepared to engage with the Probation Services and any suitable programmes. Vincent Heneghan SC, prosecuting, asked Gooney, 'was the way [the woman] was feeling not obvious to you?'. He replied: 'No'. A man gave character evidence on behalf of Gooney. He began his evidence by telling the court that his family and Gooney's 'are highly respected and thought of in our communities'. He said Gooney was a friend of his son's. 'He's always been good to us'. He described Gooney as an 'outstanding machine driver' and a hard worker. He added that he was aware of an incident in 2020 where Gooney saved a woman's life. The man told Mr Heneghan that he knew of Gooney's relationship with the woman, but did not know about the defendant's behaviour towards her. 'No, it wasn't brought to my attention'. Imposing sentence, Ms Justice Caroline Biggs said the woman's victim impact statement was 'very profound and compelling'. She noted that the woman felt she was 'in constant fight or flight mode' and 'was convinced she was unworthy of love'. She noted from a letter of apology from Gooney that he is 'sorry from the bottom of his heart' and added, 'you did not deserve it'. Ms Justice Biggs said the woman had tried both 'physically and verbally' to stop Gooney, but he behaved as if 'she was his'. 'He behaved in a way that demeaned her,' the judge said, adding that he was aggressive in the way he treated the woman. She noted the 'profound, damaging and long-lasting' impact Gooney's actions had on the woman. Ms Justice Biggs described the coercive control as 'menacing, insidious, intimidating and systematic'. She noted that a probation report stated that he was at a moderate risk of re-offending and was willing to engage with the Probation Service. Ireland Man (22) pleads guilty to attempting to murder his... Read More Ms Justice Biggs imposed concurrent terms of three years and two months for the sexual assault offences and two years and six months for the coercive control. She noted that the woman had previously indicated that the gardaí who assisted her in the prosecution of the case treated her with 'genuine kindness and the utmost care'. Ms Justice Biggs said she was very happy to hear that the woman had been supported in this way by the gardaí. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at or visit Rape Crisis Help. You can contact Women's Aid (24-hour freephone helpline at 1800-341 900, email helpline@ or Men's Aid Ireland (confidential helpline at 01-554 3811, email hello@ for support and information.
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
A glimpse of hope, then another Aboriginal death in custody: ‘grief-stricken' campaigners mourn lack of progress
The supermarket is silent except for wails of grief. A small procession makes a slow pilgrimage down aisle four of the Alice Springs Coles, where their loved one – a 24-year-old Warlpiri man with a disability – lost consciousness after being restrained by police. He later died in hospital. Outside, the man's grandfather, Warlpiri elder Ned Hargraves, addressed a crowd of hundreds from his mobility scooter. 'Enough is enough,' he said on Friday. 'This cannot keep going.' Five years after the Black Lives Matter movement promised a reckoning for racial injustice in Australia, the grim reality facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is eerily familiar. In 2020, the nation was reeling from the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker by Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe in the central desert community of Yuendumu. Rolfe was charged with murder, but later acquitted. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email This month, as the community braced for the findings of a bruising two-year inquest into the death, they learned another young Warlpiri man from Yuendumu – now known as Kumanjayi White – had died after being restrained by police in the Coles supermarket in Alice Springs. 'We were looking forward to truly beginning our healing process,' Walker's cousin, Samara Fernandez-Brown, said in a statement. 'You have thrown us right back to the start, reopening wounds that were just beginning to scab over.' Police alleged White was shoplifting and said plainclothes officers stepped in after an altercation with a security guard. Hargraves criticised police for portraying his grandson as a criminal while the incident was under investigation. Following the deaths of both young men, the family called for investigations independent of the police– a demand Aboriginal communities and several inquiries have been making for decades. In White's case, police 'respectfully' rejected the request. Rallies are once again being held across Australia in solidarity with Yuendumu. Their calls echo those made in 2020, when record numbers of protesters defied Covid restrictions to demand action to prevent Indigenous people dying in prisons or police custody. At the time, Mililma May, a Danggalaba Kulumbirigin Tiwi woman, helped organise Darwin's largest-ever protest. 'That was a historic moment for Darwin,' she says. 'It did feel like there was momentum, and most importantly, it felt like the community was empowered and activated and determined. 'I am extremely grief-stricken with the position that we're at now, and how we went from bad to worse.' The independent senator Lidia Thorpe, a Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurring woman, is similarly scathing about the lack of progress since 2020. 'To see so many people show up was an act of solidarity … you would think that some change would have happened as a result,' she says. 'There's a glimpse of hope and then that just gets taken away as soon as you have to deal with another death.' The solutions to preventing Indigenous deaths in custody have been 'sitting on the shelves' since 1991, says Thorpe, when a royal commission put forward 339 ways to stop them. Three decades later, only about two-thirds of the recommendations had been fully implemented, according to a review described as 'misleadingly positive' by academics. One change has been the real time reporting of deaths through an online dashboard run by the Australian Institute of Criminology. It shows 34 people have died in custody this year – 10 of them Indigenous. Prior to this, Guardian Australia's Deaths Inside database was the only regularly updated source of information. There have been other changes in response to tireless advocacy from families, but often with a caveat. Police in Western Australia agreed to train officers to use alternative restraints to the prone position, but refused to ban the technique outright. Public drunkenness was decriminalised in Victoria, but the laws took three years to come into effect. Spit hoods were banned in several jurisdictions, then reintroduced for Northern Territory children. The core advice of the royal commission – to reduce the number of Indigenous people in prison – appears to have been ignored or disregarded entirely. Despite signing a national agreement to close the gap in incarceration rates, states and territories have passed tough-on-crime measures that are locking up record numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Nerita Waight, the chief executive of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, says governments prefer such 'kneejerk, short-term solutions' over deeper, systemic reform. 'They would rather pursue popular votes and pander to conservative media narratives than actually show a modicum of leadership on the issues that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people,' she says. Former Labor senator Pat Dodson has condemned the gross overrepresentation of First Nations children in the youth justice and child protection systems as an ongoing genocide. But while the calls for reform have only become more urgent, the level of public support appears to have waned. At least 20,000 people marched in Sydney after George Floyd's death in the US. A snap vigil in the city on Sunday night saw about 500 people brave the winter chill to gather on the steps of the town hall. 'We have seen the numbers drop,' says Paul Silva, an organiser of both Sydney events. 'I'll say it for what it is – people will tend to jump on the bandwagon when something is trending.' Thorpe says between the yawning gap in Indigenous disadvantage and the war in Gaza, people are feeling 'traumatised' and 'helpless'. 'We're kind of fatigued by genocide,' she says. May attributed the sense of apathy to a rise in disinformation on social media; which became more prolific throughout the pandemic, the Trump era and the failure of the Indigenous voice referendum. 'The way that people were accessing news and information was really distorted and dictated by their algorithms,' she says. 'I think it's emboldened the views of the right and the views of the racists.' For grieving families, the fight continues. Silva was 17 when his uncle, David Dungay Jr, died in Long Bay prison after being restrained in the prone position by guards. Harrowing footage of the incident, in which Dungay repeatedly says he cannot breathe, has been likened to the death of Floyd. A coroner found the guards involved in Dungay's death should not face disciplinary action and the NSW director of public prosecutions rejected the family's calls to lay criminal charges. After exhausting all other avenues, the Dungay family is still pursuing a complaint to the United Nations, in a bid to shine a global spotlight on his uncle's death. Now 27, Silva has become one of the loudest voices calling for justice through a portable speaker at Sydney's protest rallies. He is planning another in the coming days. The Dunghutti man regularly gets phone calls from distressed families whose loved ones have died lonely, violent deaths at the hands of the state. 'I sit on the phone and listen to them cry, and even cry with them,' he says. 'Deep down, I know that's something that my uncle would really want, and that's something he's guided me to do.' Indigenous Australians can call 13YARN on 13 92 76 for information and crisis support; or call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Mensline on 1300 789 978 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
After weeks of silence, Erin Patterson begins to tell her side of the story to deadly mushroom lunch trial
Erin Patterson had been in the witness box for 142 minutes, a window to her right showing the rain falling outside in regional Victoria, when her barrister Colin Mandy SC said: 'I'm going to ask you some questions now about mushrooms'. Patterson had already spoken to the court about her children and her family, her hefty inheritances, her relationship with her estranged husband, Simon, and their slow and gradual decoupling, in her evidence on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. But this was the closest the triple-murder accused had come to being asked directly about the fateful lunch of beef wellingtons in July 2023. From the first days of her trial, it had become clear the key issue was whether Patterson meant to put death cap mushrooms in the lunch she served to her husband's relatives (including her parents-in-law), and whether she meant to kill or cause serious harm to them. Now Patterson was being asked about whether she liked to eat mushrooms more generally, and whether she had ever picked, eaten and cooked wild varieties of the popular ingredient. Yes, she told the court, to all of the above. Once, she revealed, she had found some growing outside at the property she lived at in Korumburra before moving to the house, in the nearby town Leongatha, where the fateful lunch took place. She said she had fried up what she was confident were field and horse mushrooms with butter, ate them, and, when she discovered they were safe, used them in other meals. That included in food fed to her two children, Patterson told the court. Erin Patterson hosts lunch for estranged husband Simon's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt and uncle Heather and Ian Wilkinson. Patterson serves beef wellington. All four lunch guests are admitted to hospital with gastro-like symptoms. Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson die in hospital. Don Patterson dies in hospital. Victoria police search Erin Patterson's home and interview her. Ian Wilkinson is discharged from hospital after weeks in intensive care. Police again search Erin Patterson's home, and she is arrested and interviewed. She is charged with three counts of murder relating to the deaths of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson. Jury is sworn in. Murder trial begins. Jury hears that charges of attempting to murder her estranged husband Simon are dropped. Mandy's focus narrowed when he asked where the mushrooms in the beef wellington meal had come from. 'The vast majority came from the local Woolworths in Leongatha. There were some from the grocer in Melbourne,' she replied. She accepted, however, that the meal had contained death cap mushrooms. 'Do you accept there must have been death cap mushrooms in there?' Mandy asked Patterson. 'Yes, I do,' she replied. Throughout her answers, Patterson sat in an office chair faced towards Mandy, with Justice Christopher Beale to her left and the jury directly in front of her. The court room was filled with almost a dozen members of the Patterson and Wilkinson families, homicide squad detectives including the officer in charge of the investigation, Stephen Eppingstall, and about 20 members of the public. Behind those public seats was the now-empty dock where, until this week, Patterson had sat quietly observing former friends, family and experts testifying in her trial. Earlier, Mandy had taken his client to expletive-laden messages she had sent in a Facebook group chat in December 2022 expressing frustrations about her in-laws – Don and Gail Patterson, who are now deceased – about a dispute with her estranged husband, Simon. In the messages, previously shown to the jury, the Facebook user 'Erin ErinErin' wrote she was 'sick of this shit' and 'fuck em' about Don and Gail. 'Why did you write that?' Mandy asked. Patterson released a slow exhale and sniffed before she answered. 'I needed to vent,' Patterson told the jury. 'The choice was either go into the paddock and tell the sheep or vent to these women.' The group chat – which Patterson said had been running for four years by late 2022 – was a space to discuss food the women were cooking, as well as their children's lives and current affairs. Asked if she meant the words, Patterson replied 'no' as she dabbed her eyes repeatedly with a tissue. Of the message she sent which said 'this family I swear to fucking god', a visibly emotional Patterson said she wished she had never said it. 'I feel ashamed for saying it, and I wish the family didn't have to hear that I said that. 'They didn't deserve it.' For five weeks, Patterson's voice in her triple murder trial has been confined to conversations recalled by other witnesses, pages of online messages and texts, and a 21-minute formal police interview played to the jury. Dressed in a navy blue shirt with white polka dots, her reading glasses within easy reach to her right, Patterson started to tell her side of the story. The jury who will decide her fate watched and listened. Her evidence will continue on Wednesday.
