Two teenagers have been handed suspended jail sentences after a bizarre series of events in which they confined and terrorised a man they had decided, "for an unknown reason", was a rapist.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The girls were aged 14 and 17 at the time of their crimes on October 15 last year, and cannot be named for legal reasons.
They were sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday, having previously pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful confinement and minor theft.
Justice Michael Elkaim said the victim was living in a Lyneham unit at the time of the offences, while the 14-year-old girl frequented a different unit in the same block.
She and the 17-year-old were friends, who smoked the drug ice together on the day in question.
"For an unknown reason the two offenders had come to the conclusion that [the victim] was a rapist," Justice Elkaim said.
"They decided that the status entitled them, perhaps even obliged them, to bash him."
The judge noted that the younger girl had previously been sexually assaulted, but there was no suggestion the victim had been responsible for that or any other sexual assault.
Justice Elkaim said the two girls went to the victim's unit, and told him to sit on a chair and put his hands on a table.
The 14-year-old kicked the table and hit it with a small axe, telling the victim not to move.
"She tied his hands behind his back with tape," Justice Elkaim said.
"She opened a needle container and stabbed [the victim] in his leg, albeit through his trousers. The two offenders then searched the unit and made a mess."
The victim tried to run away, but the girls stopped him and confined him to the bathroom of another unit for about an hour.
Whilst in the bathroom, the elder of the girls shaved the victim and cut his hair.
This girl also made a recording on her phone, revealing that the younger of the duo had put a pair of scissors to the man's throat, punched and kicked him, and told him she was going to stab him.
Justice Elkaim said the victim would have been "terrified" throughout the ordeal, and would no doubt suffer the psychological consequences for some time.
He said the minor theft charges related to kitchen utensils, CDs and DVDs of unknown value.
The judge noted that the younger of the girls had been exposed to "family violence, neglect, parental substance misuse, emotional harm and self-harming behaviours" from an early age.
She suffered from "a multitude of mental health issues" and first came to the attention of Child and Youth Protection Services in 2009.
Attempts to return her to her mother's care had been "abandoned".
Justice Elkaim said the elder offender had grown up seeing her father being violent towards various partners. Her father had also been "aggressive" towards her.
She was "kicked out" of her family home in mid-2019 and is due to give birth to a child in August this year, following a relationship in which she was abused.
"She blames her involvement in the [unlawful confinement] offence on her former partner and because she was concerned that her co-offender might seriously injure the victim," Justice Elkaim said.
The judge sentenced both offenders to nine months in jail, but suspended the sentences upon each entering into 12-month good behaviour orders.
READ ALSO:
Justice Elkaim backdated the younger girl's suspended jail sentence to reflect the 127 days she spent in custody on remand, but ordered that her good behaviour order start from Tuesday.
"The overwhelming reasons behind my approach are that these two young people must be given every opportunity to put their lives in order, to leave crime behind them and to live in society as decent and contributing members of society," he said.
