She said the teenager had shown remorse for his offending, pleaded guilty to all charges as soon as he could, had shown a willingness to work with support services and expressed a desire to reconnect with his family and return to school upon his release.
”He knows what he did was wrong,” she said. “He is ready for change in perhaps a way he wasn’t when he was first remanded … He’s a young person with intellectual disability. He’s not a mastermind able to manipulate youth justice.”
The court heard the teenager had struggled while in custody and already been victim to two assaults by other young offenders.
However, the prosecution argued that while custody was a last resort for a young person with an intellectual disability, the teenager should remain incarcerated for longer due to the seriousness of his offending and the need to protect the community and ensure the right support was put in place before his release.
“Supports can be put in place while he is in custody,” the prosecutor said.
Detective Senior Constable Timothy Paltridge previously told the court several members of the public witnessed the attack and filmed the incident before rendering assistance.
The court was told the boy was intoxicated at the time and had consumed a bottle of vodka.
The attack with the machete was one of a string of violent offences over which the teenager was charged including a separate attack on a night nurse in a foiled carjacking months earlier, as well other incidents leading to charges for robbery, theft, driving and weapons offences.
For all the crimes outside the St Kilda machete attack, including the nurse attack, the teenager was given a 12-month youth supervision order with special conditions and no conviction.
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“You can’t get into any more trouble,” the magistrate said, directing his comments at the teenager who was nodding his head as he sat in the dock dressed in a navy-blue singlet.
“This is very much about protecting the community and you doing the right thing.”
The teenager’s sentence comes as new Crime Statistics Agency Data shows repeat youth offenders are driving a 13.2 per cent rise in Victorian crime rates to levels not seen in almost a decade.
The data shows crimes committed by children aged 10 to 17 rose last year to their highest levels since electronic records began in 1993.
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