Man belts kid, steals push bike

A DRUG addict has been sentenced to jail for punching a teenage boy in the back of the head and stealing his bicycle.

Benjamin Carstairs, 36, pleaded guilty in the Southport District Court yesterday to two counts of robbery with personal violence after assaulting two teenage boys outside a Labrador Hungry Jacks on September 25 last year.

The court heard Carstairs, who has a four-page criminal history, and another man saw the boys’ bikes outside the Brisbane Rd store.

When they tried to take them, they were sprung by the owners, aged 16 and 17, eating inside.

The pair came out and confronted Carstairs and his mate to try and take the bikes back when the other man with Carstairs punched the 17-year-old in the face.

Carstairs then punched the 16-year-old in the back of the head and the pair fled with the bikes.

He was sentenced to two years’ jail and will be released on parole in March 2018.

During the sentencing hearing Judge Katherine McGinness described the offending as “so stupid”.

“It’s just such a ridiculous offence with unnecessary violence ... to take two youths’ bikes,” she said.

Barrister for Carstairs, Jason Buckland, instructed by Buckland Allen Criminal Lawyers, said his client had been homeless and suffering from a drug addiction for several years but had stopped using in September 2016.