STATE OF TASMANIA v J L P 29 OCTOBER 2009
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BLOW J
J L, I have to sentence you on six charges. The first one is a charge of attempted aggravated armed robbery. On 21 July you and a friend went into a take-away shop at Kings Meadows. You asked a woman working there to give you cigarettes, and pulled a knife on her. She refused to give you any cigarettes, and you ran away.
The second charge is a charge of armed robbery. Later the same afternoon, you went into a newsagency in the centre of Launceston, robbed a shop assistant of a packet of cigarettes at knifepoint, and ran away. The woman you robbed in that shop was very upset. She is now very cautious about robbers. She has spent hundreds of dollars on security precautions.
The third charge is another charge of armed robbery. About half an hour after the robbery at the newsagency, you went into a Coles supermarket, went up to the cigarette counter, and robbed a shop assistant of $200 at knifepoint. He was very upset too. He became a very nervous man.
The other charges are not so serious. I have to sentence you for stealing the knife that you had that day. You stole it from another Coles store earlier in the afternoon. I have to sentence you for having possession of a pipe for smoking cannabis. The police found it when you were arrested. And I also have to sentence you for smoking cannabis. You told the police you had smoked some that morning.
You are only 15 years old. You will be 16 next week, and you will be spending your birthday in Ashley.
There are a number of things that count in your favour. You did not actually use the knife on anyone. You would not have done so, but nobody else knew that. The stolen cigarettes and money were recovered by the police. You pleaded guilty to all charges at an early stage. Most importantly, you are sorry for the people you held up.
That is the most serious thing about this case. Robbery victims can develop terrible psychiatric problems, and sometimes those problems last for years. Luckily, none of your victims seem to have had extremely bad reactions to what happened to them.
I know that you have had terrible problems, and that you have been in a lot of trouble. Obviously you were very upset in the days and weeks before you committed these robberies. You need to try not to get into that sort of situation again. I know you have been back in Ashley for just over three months now, and that you are going to be there until at least 21 December, whatever I do today. I am going to do what your Youth Justice Worker has recommended. I am going to sentence you to detention, but suspend part of the sentence and make a probation order.
I convict you on at each charge and sentence you to 18 months' detention with effect from 21 July 2009. I suspend 12 months of that sentence on condition that you be of good behaviour until your 18th birthday. I make a probation order, to operate for 12 months after your release from detention, with special conditions as follows:
(a) you must attend educational, personal, health and other programs as directed by your assigned Youth Justice Worker;
(b) you must undergo medical, psychiatric, psychological and drug counselling and treatment as directed by your assigned Youth Justice Worker.
In accordance with s107 of the Youth Justice Act 1997, I specify that my orders are made under Part 4 of that Act and that the responsible department in relation to that Act is to be responsible for all or any matters relating to the administration of my orders.
Finally, I have to fix a time for you to pay victims of crime compensation levies totalling $210. I order you to pay that amount within 28 days after your release from detention. I am not allowed to give you any longer to pay, but your solicitor can help you to apply for an extension of time.