The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, along with his co-accused — a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy — are alleged to have attacked a young teenage boy on a Mooroopna oval on Friday, August 29.
A police officer told a children’s court the 14-year-old allegedly pointed a knife at the boy and punched him, while the 13-year-old also hit him.
They also allegedly made him strip off his clothes.
All three allegedly kicked him while he was on the ground.
The 14-year-old allegedly told the boy if he told anyone what had happened he would come to his house with a gun, while the 16-year-old allegedly filmed the attack on his phone.
Two days later, the 13-year-old and 14-year-old allegedly stole from Woolworths in Mooroopna, before confronting another customer outside the store with knives, chasing the man down the street, and slashing the tyre on his car.
A few hours later, at 2am on September 1, the 13-year-old and 14-year-old allegedly had knives with them as they broke into a Mooroopna massage parlour and stole cash and a phone.
Police say they sprayed powder from a fire extinguisher into a room where employees who lived there had been hiding, before locking them in.
The court heard the 13-year-old was on bail at the time of the two incidents on charges of aggravated home invasion, burglary and two counts of theft.
On August 7 the three teenagers allegedly broke into a house, with knives and a hammer, looking for a resident, who locked themselves in a room.
The 13-year-old was charged and bailed over the incident, while the other two received cautions.
The 13-year-old started his bail application on these current matters in a children’s court a week ago, alongside the 14-year-old and 16-year-old.
All three are charged with the armed robbery of another teen and recklessly causing injury to him.
The 13-year-old and 14-year-old are also charged with a second armed robbery, home invasion, theft, assault with a weapon, criminal damage, and dealing with property suspected to be the proceeds of crime.
The 13-year-old was also charged with three counts of committing an indictable offence while on bail.
The 14-year-old and 16-year-old were granted bail last week, but the magistrate remanded the 13-year-old in custody for an extra week while an assessment could be done.
In court this week, the 13-year-old’s solicitor Dayna Powell argued the boy be bailed as he was now able to take part in intensive youth justice bail that would see youth workers see him almost every day.
The prosecutor argued the 13-year-old should not be bailed, as the allegations against him were “extremely serious”.
While she conceded he had no criminal history before the courts, she said he had received eight police cautions, including three for armed robbery.
The prosecutor also said the young victim in the assault had hardly left the house and feared the trio.
In bailing the 13-year-old, the magistrate said he satisfied the bail threshold of exceptional circumstances as he was young, and had no prior criminal history.
She said there was a chance he could apply for what is known as doli incapax — a law principle that says a child aged between 10 and 13 years is presumed incapable of criminal intent.
She also said there was a “real possibility” he may not receive a youth detention sentence.
The magistrate said her concerns related to the risk he was to the community if bailed; however, she said the addition of intensive youth justice support helped reduce this risk to “an acceptable level”.
The boy was bailed on strict conditions.
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