The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at a Children's Court on Monday via video link from custody and pleaded guilty to nine charges.

A police prosecutor said the accused was released from custody after serving a six-month term on February 5, 2021.

Five days later a Golden Point resident heard a loud bang, saw his laundry door and garage door open and his car being driven away.

The teenager's fingerprints were found on the laundry door.

The prosecutor said the accused forced entry to a garden shed belonging to volunteer organisation Food Is Free, stole cement and a hard hat and wrote on the whiteboard.

The same day about 2.30pm on February 11, the accused and a friend sat next to a 17-year-old boy in Stockland Wendouree and demanded he give them his shoes or he would bash him.

CCTV footage shows the accused learning over the victim in a threatening manner.

The accused and his friend took the shoes and they were later found at the accused's house.

The court heard the victim, who was new to Ballarat and had caught the bus, was left stranded at the shopping centre with no shoes to get home.

The police prosecutor said the accused later entered a Victoria Avenue home and removed keys and a wallet from a bowl in the kitchen and left in the victim's Mercedes.

At 5.30am on February 12, a victim was awoken after hearing buttons on a combination lock on the front door being pressed.

The victim saw the accused and other offenders trying to steal his car and yelled to the group the police were coming.

One member of the group yelled 'you're f***ed' and they jumped the fence into the victim's backyard.

At 7.10am on February 12 the accused was seen filling up the stolen Mercedes with petrol.

The accused was arrested and found with a pocket knife in the pocket of his pants.

A defence lawyer said his client was still young and ultimately his rehabilitation was critical.

He said there was concern the accused was becoming institutionalised in custody.

The court heard the accused had been in custody from December 2019 to February 2021 but for one day and this offending happened within days of his release.

"He has also spent significant periods remanded in custody earlier in 2019," the lawyer said.

"He is still young, he is 17... He is not a bad person, he is a person who has done some bad things."

The court heard the accused had a history of battling drug addiction, mental health issues, was disengaged from education and had child protection involvement in the past.

"The sooner he can come back out into the community and have some normalcy, the better his prospects for rehabilitation will be," the lawyer said.

The lawyer said the accused had a supportive family, which was something a lot of young people did not have and would be in his favour upon his release.

"He at the moment doesn't see the light at the other end because he knows he faces another period in custody," he said.

"I ask Your Honour not to impose a sentence that would completely extinguish that flicker of light that would see him return to his mother and grandmother."

The magistrate said she considered the aggravated burglaries 'very serious' and the robbery was concerning because it was offending against a child.

"He was a young boy who just moved to Ballarat who now feels scared because of what you and your friend did to him," the magistrate said.

The magistrate said she would impose a reduced sentence to ensure it was not 'crushing'.

The accused was sentenced to seven months in a Youth Justice centre, with 56 days already served.

"I know you're going to spend your 18th birthday in custody," the magistrate said.

"I want you to have some light at the end of the tunnel... but ultimately it is going to be up to you."

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