A teenager has been remanded in custody after a magistrate found him to be an unacceptable risk of re-offending if released.
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The teenage boy, aged 16, appeared at a Children's Court on Monday as his lawyer made an application for him to be bailed.
The court was told the teenager had committed a range of offences within a month of being released from a youth justice detention centre on August 23 for a wide range of serious offending, including burglary and car theft.
He appeared in court on Monday after being bailed for a number of other offences in September and October, including allegedly stealing a handbag containing valuables from a skatepark and allegedly using a credit card found in the handbag to make a number of purchases.
He is also alleged to have been involved in an incident where keys were stolen off a kitchen bench in Miners Rest while the homeowners slept on September 28, using them to steal a motor vehicle that had more than $2000 worth of power tools inside.
He is also alleged to have stolen from a car, also in Miners Rest, and just days later, alleged to be involved in stealing a car with a co-accused and being the passenger in the car as it sped dangerously across Ballarat, prompting a police pursuit involving the Airwing.
A day after being granted bail by a magistrate, the accused is alleged to have attended a supermarket in Ballarat Central on October 15.
The court was told the accused approached a man and said "what the f*** are you looking at" to which the man replied that he was on his phone.
The accused then told the man he was going to get a knife before following the victim inside the store, demanding the cigarettes he had just bought before snatching them off him.
He then demanded the victim hand over the rest of his property.
The victim tried to get the cigarettes back but was grabbed by his shirt and pushed, while the accused repeated "give me all your s***".
The police prosecutor said CCTV footage captured the physical altercation between the two and that punches were thrown.
Witnesses intervened and separated the two, when the victim then dropped a pair of Airpods - the accused scooped them up off the ground and fled.
The victim sustained marks and scratches to his hands.
The accused was arrested at the same supermarket on October 16, wearing the same clothes he had been wearing during the earlier incident.
He was remanded by a bail justice and arrangements were made to transport him to a youth justice centre. Placed in the back of a police van, he was observed to manoeuver his handcuffed hands from behind his back to the front of his body and use the metal edge of his handcuffs to damage the perspex glass.
Police were notified of a possible COVID issue at the centre and returned to the police station, attempting to transport the accused the following day.
Once again, the accused allegedly brought his handcuffed hands to the front of his body and caused significant damage to the van by scratching his name and other words throughout the pod.
The police prosecutor said it was "very serious offending" and it was "extremely likely" he would continue to offend if released from custody.
"He has offended while on bail and will continue to if released," he said.
"The accused shows no regard for public safety, has a complete disregard for the court orders and that is proven by the 305 charges to his name and 62 counts of committing indictable offences whilst on bail since 2018.
"Police have serious concerns for the safety of the public with the accused's escalating behaviour and serious offending, as the nature of his offending revolves around burglaries, aggravated burglaries, vehicle thefts, assaults and dangerous driving.
Police request the remand of the accused due to the unacceptable risk posed to the community and extreme likelihood he will continue to offend and place the community at risk.
"The accused poses a significant risk to the community and will continue to offend if granted bail. Police request the remand of the accused due to the unacceptable risk posed to the community and extreme likelihood he will continue to offend and place the community at risk."
The magistrate accepted the accused's defence lawyer's case that he met exceptional circumstances but said he was an unacceptable risk.
"This is a young man who has had so many chances.
"I can't think of anyone who has more opportunities in a children's court but he just keeps returning.
"My concern is that ultimately he couldn't care less. He continues to reoffend and breach orders and he is an enormous risk.
"The way he is proceeding at the moment, if he doesn't change his behaviour he will spend the rest of his life in and out of adult custody."
The matter will return to court next month.
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