A teenage bashing victim nearly killed after being repeatedly stomped on by a gang of youths has unleashed at the justice system that says his attackers are too young to understand right from wrong.
The 15-year-old male victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was allegedly attacked in a shopping centre carpark on Sydney’s Northern Beaches by the group while on his way home from school on March 18, 2024.
In the alleged racially motivated attack the teen received as many as 60 blows to the head as he was ‘repeatedly stomped on’. It was allegedly filmed and shared on social media.
Police allege the gang then returned with tasers and knives, and used the tasers to shock the 15-year-old in the back and leg, before a stranger ‘stopped her car to save his life’.
Despite clinicians saying the teen would have died if he wasn’t wearing bike helmet, the 13-year-old alleged ringleader of the gang had multiple serious charges against him dropped.
The 15-year-old was allegedly a victim of a racially motivated attack in Sydney’s Northern Beaches (pictured). The 13-year-old ringleader of the gang had charges dropped due to his age and not knowing the difference between right and wrong, in the eyes of the law
The victim’s parents have pleaded with NSW Premier Chris Minns (pictured) to change the law
The victim and his family were told that because of the offender’s young age, he ‘does not have the ability to form criminal intention’ and couldn’t understand right from wrong under NSW’s ‘doli incapax’ common laws.
Doli incapax ‘presumes that a child between the age of 10 and 14 years does not possess the necessary knowledge to have criminal intention, that is, the child is incapable of committing a crime due to a lack of understanding of the difference between right and wrong’.
But the victim said he wanted the NSW premier, Chris Minns to change the law ‘so other victims don’t have to be let down by the system’, reported The Daily Telegraph.
‘At 13 years of age, a teenager should know right from wrong,’ the victim said.
‘Particularly when they have been charged and spoken to by the police on many occasions. All teenagers would know it’s criminal to viciously assault another person.
‘I hope this brings about a change in the law.’
The teen now says he is a prisoner in his own home and he is receiving death threats from the gang.
The victim also said he knew the difference between right and wrong ‘as an eight-year-old’.
The teen’s mother has written to the Premier, pleading with him to change the law.
‘Whilst on bail for the attack on our son, he has continued to commit other serious offences, including another serious assault on a child,’ she wrote.
‘These additional charges are yet to proceed to Hearing. In comparison, a 16-year-old attacker was immediately imprisoned for 5 months.
‘We wish to draw this to your attention as an example of our broken justice system,’ she wrote.
NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley (pictured) said the NSW government takes youth crime ‘seriously’ and has recently ‘strengthened laws’.
‘Our son has received repeated death threats since the attack and has to be escorted to and from school for his safety.
‘Victims and the police are all fed up with these young offenders knowing they are untouchable and literally capable of getting away with murder.’
The mother said her son’s attack could be ‘a catalyst for change’.
NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley described the details of the attack as ‘disturbing’ to The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Daley said the government had ‘strengthened’ laws this year and takes ‘youth crime seriously’.
The NSW Attorney-General said in NSW the minimum age of criminal responsibility is ten-years-old but says it does not give children a ‘free pass’ as it is something that can be rebutted if proven a child understood the seriousness of their crime.
In the past, The High Court of Australia has previously recognised children as young as 10 have the ability to understand the serious wrongness of their acts.
