Teenager acquitted of Weston Creek skatepark murder commits home invasion reprisal

The 18-year-old offender, who cannot be named because he was underage at the time of his crimes, faced an ACT Supreme Court murder trial earlier this year.

He denied fatally stabbing a man during a brawl at the Weston Creek skatepark in 2020, but he admitted seriously wounding that victim's cousin by knifing him in the back.

A jury ultimately found him not guilty of the murder charge, and he was sentenced to a partially suspended jail term for the offence of recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm.

The offender was also placed on a good behaviour order by the ACT Children's Court, following another 2020 incident in which he hit a fellow high school student with a brick.

He was only free for about three months before being put back behind bars over a reprisal against a fellow brawler, who had given evidence against him in his murder trial.

At the time of the offender's latest arrest, ACT Policing said CCTV cameras had captured him using a rock to break a glass door at the witness' Rivett home on September 11.

Once inside, police said, the boy ransacked a bedroom and assaulted the witness' mother when she tried to remove him from the home.

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He was further accused of damaging the witness' television and stealing his Kathmandu puffer jacket, which was valued at $350, before kicking a car as he left the scene.

When the 18-year-old faced the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Justice Michael Elkaim said he had pleaded guilty to several charges stemming from this incident.

The charges were of reprisal against a person involved in a legal proceeding, burglary, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, theft and destroying property.

The teenager applied for bail ahead of his impending sentencing, asking to be freed from custody in order to complete treatment at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre.

He gave evidence of wanting to do this to address his "horrible run of committing offences".

"I'd like help ... I want to get off drugs and live a good life," he said.

The court heard the Ted Noffs Foundation had accepted the offender into a rehabilitation program.

His lawyer, Peter Bevan, said his client's criminal history started when he was 16 and his escalating offending could only be stopped in two ways.

These were "to keep him in custody for a long time" or to address his problems via rehabilitation.

Prosecutor Morgan Howe opposed bail, saying the offender had committed a "multitude of violent offences" and "the risks are obvious".

"We have two brazen, violent offences, one of which was targeted towards a young person because that young person facilitated the administration of justice," Mr Howe said.

Justice Elkaim said while the potential for rehabilitation created a "powerful" case for bail, his initial inclination to grant it had been "defeated" by a number of factors.

These included the offender having a history of failing to appear in court, as well as breaching both bail and good behaviour orders.

The judge said a sentence of full-time imprisonment was also "a real possibility", having regard to the "serious" reprisal offence and the teenager's "very violent actions".

"This is combined with information held by the police that the applicant has made other threats of revenge on persons involved in his Supreme Court trial," Justice Elkaim said.

Justice Elkaim ultimately found there was "a real danger" of the teenager committing more offences if granted bail, saying "the risks to the community overwhelm the application".

The offender was accordingly remanded in custody until February 3, 2023, when he is due to be sentenced.

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