The Shepparton 19-year-old pleaded guilty in the County Court Koori Court to aggravated carjacking, as well as summary charges of publishing material of an offence, driving at a dangerous speed, driving unlicensed and committing an indictable offence while on bail.
The teen, who was 18 at the time so cannot be named, and a 15-year-old carjacked an Uber driver in Shepparton on September 20 last year after earlier organising it through texts, including one message where he told the younger boy to “make sure it’s a decent car so we can put him in the boot”, and a Snapchat of himself holding a small kitchen knife while sitting behind the driver.
When the Uber driver pulled up to a Shepparton house at 3.30pm to collect the other boy, the then 18-year-old placed a knife against the victim’s throat from the back seat and dragged it back and forth across his neck, while the other boy — who was allegedly also holding a knife — demanded the driver got out.
The driver managed to drive a short distance up the road before the co-accused caught up to them and got in the back seat.
The older teen told the victim to “get out or I’ll kill you” before the man got out of the car and held on to the door while the boy allegedly brandished the knife and forced the victim away before the pair drove off.
The victim told police he “feared he would be killed”.
The teens then drove along the Goulburn Valley Hwy to Seymour, driving erratically, on the wrong side of the road at times, and at one point filmed himself driving at 170km/h and posted the video on Instagram with rap music and the caption “who says we ain’t active”.
An hour after the carjacking, an off-duty police officer in Seymour spotted the car driving erratically in Seymour with two flat tyres, before it was parked and the two teens were arrested by police after a short chase.
Defence barrister Briana Proud argued that there were compelling, exceptional, substantial and rare reasons that could be shown which would allow the teen to be sentenced to time in a youth detention centre instead of the mandatory minimum of three years in an adult prison.
However, Judge Wendy Wilmoth disagreed.
While she noted his young age, “very significant childhood disadvantage” and conditions he had been diagnosed with, including post-traumatic stress disorder, autism, ADHD, generalised anxiety disorder and stimulant misuse disorder, she did not agree they fitted the exceptions where prison was not imposed.
“Aggravated carjacking is unfortunately a prevalent crime committed by people in similar circumstances,” she said.
Judge Wilmoth also spoke of a youth justice assessment report that found him unsuitable for a youth justice order, and pointed out that he was “settled” in adult prison where he had been on remand, and that he had not been involved in any incidents like he had been while in a youth detention centre.
A psychologist report also said the teen’s risk of violent re-offending was high, Judge Wilmoth said.
He was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison, with a non-parole period of three years set.
The 340 days he has already spent in pre-sentence detention awaiting the matter to finalise in court was reckoned as time already served.
He was also disqualified from obtaining a driver’s licence for five years.
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