Court date nears for teen in custody
A FOURTEEN-year-old boy has been held in custody for three months as he awaits a hearing over a violent home invasion in Corio.
The young teen, who has spent time in isolation due to multiple alleged assaults at the youth centre, is due to face a children’s court on Thursday over the shocking incident.
He is one of four people who have been arrested and held in custody over the attack on Bryan Matthew, 60, and his wife Janet, 61, in the early hours of August 7.
Mr Matthew was allegedly karate-style kicked to the head, which left him with a large gash needing 13 stitches.
The offenders, who were carrying multiple tasers, only left the Corio property after Mrs Matthew brandished a carving knife and screamed at them.
“I said, ‘Get out of my house’ with the knife raised and two of them ran out,” she later told the Geelong Advertiser.
“Then to the third one I said ‘I am going to kill you’ and ran at him making a stabbing motion and he called me a psycho b---- and said, ‘Don’t stab me’ and took off as well.
“They got nothing, except a fright.”
After two failed attempts at gaining bail in a children’s court, the 14-year-old launched a bid for freedom in the Supreme Court earlier this month.
Bail was refused a third time, with the boy remaining in custody since his arrest on August 11.
“The surrounding circumstances make it clear to me that the prospects of the applicant complying with even the most stringent of bail conditions would be bleak,” the judge said.
“His escalating poor behaviour and seeming unwillingness to modify his behaviour raise powerful concerns that he may represent a danger to the community.”
A youth justice worker told the court that the teen had been involved in five separate incidents of alleged assault on other inmates and staff, plus criminal damage.
He was on bail at the time of the alleged offending, adding to an inglorious record that contains nine separate findings of guilt for committing an indictable offence while on bail.