By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Police chose not to pursue a 14-year-old driver who sped through heavy traffic and red lights during a two-hour joyride in Cranbourne, Narre Warren, Springvale, Dandenong and Moordialloc, a childrens court heard.
The stolen car was not pursued due to the boy’s age, but was instead tracked by a police Air Wing helicopter from about 1pm on Tuesday, 10 July, a police prosecutor said.
The car was seen driving across median strips, on the wrong side of roads, weaving between vehicles and speeding at more than 100km/h in a 60 km/h zone, police said.
Police received multiple calls from people witnessing the erratic driving, the court heard.
The boy and three other male occupants were arrested when they stopped at a shopping centre that afternoon.
It was “unbelievably dangerous” driving that put “possibly hundreds” of people at risk, a magistrate said on 30 July.
“It’s rare that you get multiple people ringing police about bad driving.
“I’m taking from that there were examples of very, very bad driving.”
The juvenile was also accused of three petrol drive-offs and using stolen credit cards to buy more than $100 of take-away food and $410 of X-Box Live and PlayStation cards in late June-early July.
A magistrate noted that the boy was “running amok” on the same June morning that his parents and a school’s staff sought a meeting with him.
They were trying to get him to return to school.
The boy’s abstinence had led to him having “too much time on his hands”, the magistrate said.
“I’m under the impression he’s not coping at school and this is the age he will play up.
“The risk is he’s going to get his self-esteem from criminal offending because what else is he doing?”
The judge said the school needed to provide more “buy in” instead of “pushing back” on the boy going there.
“They have an obligation, I would have thought.”
The boy had a “complex” background with “significant trauma” in the home, the judge noted.
He had been otherwise complying with bail but engaging in “risk-taking behaviour”.
The boy was bailed on a deferred sentence, with a stern warning not to drive or put others at risk of being hurt.
“If it doesn’t work and he re-offends, he’s likely to be looking at a term of detention.
“If needs be, the only way to really protect the community is to detain him until he matures.”
The magistrate told the boy he had support from family, Youth Justice, the Department of Education and a youth service.
The boy was bailed to appear at a children’s court at a later date.
