Calls to give teen crim’s compo to Victims NT
A TEENAGE criminal who is set to be paid compensation for mistreatment in Don Dale in 2014 should hand over any windfall to victims of crime, his latest victim says.
The 19-year-old, who can’t be named because the Supreme Court suppressed his name as a plaintiff in his civil case, was last year awarded $17,000 for mistreatment in youth detention, and his taxpayerfunded appeal could yet see him awarded more money.
Cafe Bellissimo owner Tony Mazza told the Sunday Territorian the teenager’s compo should be given to a charity or to Victims of Crime NT. Mr Mazza was opening his cafe at the Jape Homemaker Village on the morning of October 10 last year when the teenager threatened him with a tomahawk, forced him to his knees and demanded he open his safe.
He said he had no interest himself in making a claim from the government victims of crime fund even though he was left an estimated $5000 out of pocket from having to replace the car the teenager and his accomplices stole and wrote off.
“I didn’t suffer from it long term but not everyone’s like me, some people would have been traumatised by it,” he said. The teen’s treatment was among that shown in an ABC Four Corner’s documentary.
The three teenagers who he joined in suing the NT Government are all now serving long stints in adult jail.