Tearful teen denied bail

Boy claims friends stole car from station carpark

A TEENAGER allegedly seen stealing a car parked near North Geelong train station on Tuesday is accused of up to 10 car thefts, a court has heard.

The boy, 15, left a children’s court in tears yesterday after his ambitious bid for bail was rejected.

The court heard two witnesses named him to police as one of four people they saw acting suspiciously in the train station carpark about 1.30pm on Tuesday.

Less than 2½ hours later a 1998 Nissan Pulsar stolen from there was found abandoned in a nearby suburb, 150m from where the boy lives.

Its windscreen was smashed, the ignition barrel had been tampered with and the numberplates were missing, the court was told.

It was further alleged police went to the home, where they found the alleged thief on the couch with one of his coaccused offenders, who had the numberplates stuffed down his pants.

A detective said the boy denied any knowledge of the car until police showed him security camera footage of him dumping it wearing the same distinctive clothing he still had on.

Despite the witness accounts, the court heard the boy told officers he had noth- ing to do with the original theft.

Instead, he said his friends took it to his home and he had driven it away because he knew it was stolen and did not want anything to do with it.

“It would appear the problem for my client is the people he continues to hang around with . . . and he continues to commit offences,” the teenager’s lawyer said.

“I’ve explained to my client it’s a stretch for him to be considered for bail.”

The magistrate agreed his poor record — including 14 pages of prior convictions and multiple pending charges, one of which relates to an assault inside the youth justice centre at Parkville — counted against him.

“He has been given warnings . . . about what would happen if he continued to commit offences . . . and here he is back here again charged with the same offences,” she said.

Among his prior convic- tions, the teenager was incarcerated in March and then released on parole two months later for a string of offences, including assault, burglary, theft, car theft and driving charges.

The court was told he was charged over a car theft that happened four days after he was released on parole, and has already indicated his intention to plead guilty to that offence when the matter is heard next month.