By Cassandra Morgan, Aap
Three teenagers accused of violently abducting a schoolboy and leaving him with brain damage were also allegedly involved in the robbery of a 13-year-old girl who was beaten and forced to strip down to her underwear in Cranbourne, police allege.
One of the teens, a 15-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons, on Friday learnt he would be released on bail after more than a fortnight waiting for a magistrate’s decision.
The boy was previously dealt 25 charges after he and two others allegedly went on a crime spree in September in a stolen Volkswagen Tiguan, wielding machetes to steal from vulnerable Melbourne students leaving school for the day.
A 14-year-old boy was put into a six-day coma after the trio allegedly violently abducted him on 4 September in Glen Huntly in Melbourne’s southeast as he was walking home.
The vehicle took off as the boy was hanging from a passenger door, dragging him for about 150 metres and then throwing him out of the vehicle, police allege.
On Friday, prosecutors revealed the 15-year-old was also facing five fresh charges, including three relating to the alleged robbery of a 13-year-old girl about three weeks before the Glen Huntly incident.
The teen allegedly lured the girl to a house at Cranbourne before other teens repeatedly beat her, punched her in the head and pulled her by the hair while demanding she give them her belongings.
Police said the teen’s co-accused in the Glen Huntly incident and girlfriend, a 14-year-old, was also involved in the robbery, as was a 14-year-old boy also arrested over the Glen Huntly attack.
Video of the alleged robbery played to a children’s court on Friday showed the 13-year-old girl covering her face as someone screamed “show your face”, removing her trackpants and being beaten as loud music played.
A police officer cautioned the magistrate against granting the 15-year-old bail after he was allegedly seen on the driveway of the house where the victim left wearing clothes different to those she arrived in.
She was given shorts and a T-shirt and told to leave after her own clothes, shoes and jewellery were stolen, the officer said.
He said the 14-year-old boy attacked in Glen Huntly faced up to another seven weeks in hospital and had a permanent brain injury – the extent of which was unknown.
He also might never return to normal schooling and would need to wear hearing aids, the officer said.
The boy’s last memory from the day he was attacked was sitting in maths class.
A text read in court on Friday showed the 14-year-old girl charged over the Glen Huntly incident worried she’d killed the boy after she said he was stabbed by the 14-year-old. “I have f***ing problems now, I can’t sleep,” she said.
Youth workers were in support of the 15-year-old boy’s supervised release on Friday, and the magistrate granted him bail to live with his sister under strict conditions including that he abide by a curfew and not associate with his co-accused.
The magistrate noted the 15-year-old was a vulnerable young person with an intellectual disability.
However, she also acknowledged the consequences of the alleged crimes for the victims were “significant”.
The court previously heard the 15-year-old was living in a stolen BMW with his mother when police arrested him on 9 September.
Their previous address was searched by police, with windows found smashed, doors off hinges and minimal personal items or furniture found inside.
The 15-year-old boy’s charges relate to offences allegedly committed between 12 August and 9 September this year.
