Taskforce overload

TEEN TROUBLE: Support staff fail to notify police over bail breaches

GEELONG’S police taskforce fighting teen crime is so busy that live-in carers no longer report to it every time their clients breach bail curfews and conditions, a court has heard.

A support worker made the claim yesterday as more shocking allegations emerged against juvenile offenders operating in Geelong.

A 13-year-old girl and her female relative, 17, appeared in a children’s court yesterday charged with a string of offences, including aggravated burglary, both applying for bail.

While the younger girl was released, the older girl was not, scuttling her carer’s plans to take her to Queensland this week for a holiday.

The court was told the 17year-old was the driver of a stolen car that sped from police on Bacchus Marsh Rd on Sunday, careering on to the wrong side of the road and through red traffic lights.

Just four days earlier, it’s alleged she was waiting in a stolen car while the 13-year-old and a co-offender, also a minor, broke into a Grovedale home.

Police say the teenagers kicked in the front door of the home in Temt Tce and robbed it while a mother and her threeyear-old child were sleeping.

Jewellery and an iPad were allegedly stolen by the juveniles during the aggravated burglary on the morning of Geelong Cup Day, last Wednesday.

Police say the car was stolen from Broughton Drive, Highton, earlier that day.

Police have also linked the older girl to a robbery and ransacking of a neighbouring address on Glastonbury Drive earlier this month.

Last week’s offences saw the 17-year-old charged and appear in court, where she was granted bail. Police say she breached that bail just days later with her dangerous driving at the weekend in a car allegedly stolen from Oberon Drive, Belmont.

A woman who works as a supervisor where the girl lives told the court yesterday the 17year-old had breached her bail curfew on three of the four nights since her release, but the support agency managing the house did not always report that to police.

“We were told we shouldn’t be doing it (reporting breaches) every night because it’s an overload (for the Youth Tasking Unit),” the woman said. “That’s the feedback we got.” The magistrate said while he understood there was a practical aspect to this directive, he was more concerned about the teenager’s protracted criminal record and the escalation in the seriousness of her offences.

He was told the teen had committed crimes regularly since 2014, with 98 warrants is- sued in her name. He said her alleged driving at the weekend posed serious danger to the community and herself.

“We could be dealing with a coroner’s inquest today rather than a bail application,” he said.

“It’s a very worrying and concerning trend she’s now committing these extremely dangerous offences.”

He denied the girl’s application for bail, extending her first stint in custody until her next appearance in court on November 8.

“In my view, the ball’s got to stop somewhere and unfortunately it’s got to stop here,” he said.

“We could be dealing with a coroner’s inquest today rather than a bail application.” CHILDREN’S COURT MAGISTRATE