Teenager to front court

A TEENAGER accused of crash tackling and assaulting a woman pushing a pram on a Toowoomba street is expected to apply for bail today.

The 17-year-old who claimed he had no recollection of the incident having drunk half a bottle of bourbon beforehand appeared in Toowoomba Children’s Court on Saturday.

At 17 the boy is considered a juvenile and so cannot be identified.

He complained to Magistrate Viviana Keegan that he just wanted to go home to his 17-year-old pregnant girlfriend with whom he had been residing in Harristown.

Police claim the woman had her two-year-old child in a pram as she walked on Hennessy St, Harristown, walking to a nearby school to collect her other children about 2.50pm Friday when the alleged attack occurred.

It is alleged the juvenile followed the woman before crash tackling her to the ground and assaulting her.

Looking through the written police objection to bail, Magistrate Keegan noted it was alleged the boy had pulled at the woman’s shorts, “so there is a sexual connotation”.

He was not required to enter any pleas to charges of assault occasioning bodily harm and trespassing at a nearby street when he had run away.

Objecting to his bail application, police prosecutor Senior Constable Christie Mahoney told the court the 17-year-old was on bail for a series of offences committed in the Brisbane area.

His solicitor Michael Corbin said his client had been homeless for a time but if granted bail he would reside with his pregnant girlfriend and her foster father at their Harristown address and would abstain from drinking alcohol.

However, Magistrate Keegan noted there was no-one in court supporting the defendant and added she had no information about the bail address or the people living there.

“This is not about you,” she told the teenager, “it’s to ensure the safety of people in the community”.

Ms Keegan adjourned the bail application to this afternoon and remanded the teenager in custody.