CRIME WAVE Tearful crim, 17, avoids prison
A TEEN has narrowly avoided a stint behind bars as a Cairns magistrate slammed the behaviour of youth offenders in the region.
Shania Murray cried in the courtroom dock when Acting Magistrate Richard Lehmann questioned why she shouldn’t be sent to jail.
“The community as a whole are sick and tired of young people breaking into their houses, taking their car keys, taking their cars and then joy riding around the streets of Cairns and Townsville where it seems that this offending is at its most prevalent,” Mr Lehmann said.
She was sentenced to nine months jail but she was given immediate parole based on her age and limited criminal history.
The 17-year-old pleaded guilty in the Cairns Magistrates Court yesterday to 12 offences, including two burglaries, three vehicle thefts and two enter premises.
Murray was the youngest of a group who targeted a Trinity Beach home on August 28 this year. A lighter was used to burn through the flyscreen to unlock the door. Stolen were two bags and two vehicles. One was crashed into a tree.
Murray’s month-long crime spree included driving a stolen car, entering other people’s cars, a fuel drive off, stealing and another burglary where a large amount of property was stolen. Some of the offending was committed while she was on bail. She was arrested on September 29 and has spent six days in custody at Cairns watch house. “Despite your young age, your limited history, your co-operation, your plea of guilty ... these offences are prevalent in the community and general deterrence looms large,” Mr Lehmann said. “Despite all those things in your favour, even at the age of 17 you’ve reached the stage where ... (jail) is the appropriate penalty.”
She was previously on six months probation for stealing and driving stolen vehicles.
The court was told Murray had become mixed up in the wrong crowd and succumbed to peer pressure, but her stint in watch house custody had scared the daylights out of her.
“Your limited history and your young age are what’s saved you from going and doing another ... three months in custody,” he said.