ONE of two teenagers who stole a key and set themselves up in a room at the Mid City Motor Lodge on Friday night has pleaded guilty to trespass and malicious damage.
The 14-year-old appeared in Orange Children’s Court.
At the time of the offence he was already on bail and awaiting sentence for stealing two DVDs from Kmart.
On the afternoon of Friday May 4, the duty manager of the Mid City Motor Lodge arranged with a guest who was arriving late to leave their room key at reception.
The manager received a phone call from the guests at 11.30pm when they could not find the key.
When the guests received a new key and entered the room, they assumed it was already occupied as they could see personal belongings strewn about.
The manager found a mobile phone with a broken screen, a set of keys and some other belongings in the room.
Shortly after checking the room, he noticed two young males walking past the reception area and letting themselves into room 112.
When police arrived the door was closed with a security chain and the juvenile was lying on the bed wearing only his boxer shorts.
He eventually obeyed police directions to open the door.
When police inspected the room they noticed he had smoked a cigarette and stubbed it out on the carpet.
He told police “we were just looking for a place to sleep, waiting for the show.”
The second teenager had climbed out the window and was found hiding in some bushes outside.
Solicitor Adrian Walsh said his client and his family had been going through hard times.
“He tells me that it was stupid. It’s an escalation of things that have been going on,” he said.
Magistrate Jan Stevenson told the boy he was only making things worse for himself.
“Things have gone horribly wrong and they continue to go horribly wrong. This is not going to fix any problem you’ve got. All you’re doing is digging a bigger hole,” she said.
The teenager will be sentenced on May 29.
