'Cold and calculated': Handcuffed teen knocked officer unconscious

The 16-year-old boy cannot be identified due to his age and was in custody at a youth detention facility when he appeared for sentencing in Orange Children's Court on Thursday, November 16.

The court was told he'd been in custody since September 15, 2023.

Magistrate David Day said he's also serving a two-year sentence of imprisonment until February 2025 that was made in the district court.

Solicitor Pravinda Pahalawela said he is serving his parole for the District Court matters in custody but had an interview for parole coming up "in the near future".

According to documents supplied by the court, the boy was handcuffed when he headbutted a male youth officer, hitting him in the temple and causing him to black out and fall to the ground on July 20, 2023.

The assault took place while the boy was at a juvenile detention facility on July 20, 2023.

The teenager had been walking across the school quadrangle at the facility about 10.10am that day and appeared to be pointing as he walked towards a youth officer.

Another youth officer got between the two, while the victim also ran over to help his colleagues.

The victim grabbed the teenager's left arm and the boy was taken to the ground and handcuffed.

However, when the officers stood him up again the boy headbutted the victim in the temple causing him to briefly "black out".

As a result of the assault, the victim has been on worker's compensation.

After being granted bail and released from youth detention, the boy moved to Tahmoor, north-west of Wollongong.

However, he offended again in August leading to him being charged with aggravated break and enter in company and stealing, possession of suspected stolen goods and riding in a stolen car.

According to information supplied to the court, a D-Max Isuzu ute was stolen from Tahmoor overnight between August 15 and 16, 2023 by an unknown person or people.

After being seen in Orange - some four hours away from the car's original location - it was then driven back to Tahmoor where the teenager and two other underage co-offenders were captured on CCTV between 4.56am and 5.08am getting out of the stolen car and walking towards the house.

The CCTV showed the boy, who was not wearing a mask, opening a previously closed side gate and walking into the back yard of the property while wearing distinctive clothing.

The boy and a co-accused broke into the house and stole a Mercedes-AMG key and an Audi RS7 key.

They left the way they came and tried to unlock a vehicle that was parked on the driveway but were unsuccessful so walked away from the home.

A short time later, police received information from a witness that about 5.15am the teenager and co-accused were seen getting out of the stolen Isuzu D-Max on River Road, Tahmoor.

The vehicle was left idling with the headlights on and the teenager and co-accused were seen running from the location.

Police attended and, with assistance from a police K9 unit, officers tracked the teenager's movements until they got to his home where they found the stolen keys.

The owner of the stolen vehicle told police it had been driven 631km since it was stolen.

The teenager's fingerprints were also found inside the car.

The boy was on bail again with a curfew between the hours of 9pm and 6am when he committed more offences in Orange involving a stolen car in the early hours of Friday, September 15, 2023.

On that occasion, police were stopped at Nunkeri Place, Orange at 4.23am when a gold Holden Colorado sped past accelerating harshly.

Police decided to stop the car but it continued travelling at high-speed along Mirral Way and Margaret Street.

Police estimated it to have reached speeds over 100km/h and they lost sight of the vehicle.

However, they found it a short time later after it crashed in Bletchington Street.

The vehicle had lost control and crashed through the front fence. Although the driver attempted to drive back through the fence, they failed to make it through. The fence was destroyed.

The keys were in the vehicle and the engine was still running.

Two people were seen jumping over the front fence and police were unable to catch them.

However, the police also entered the crawl space under the house and found the teenager hiding behind a brick column as well as another male hiding behind a wall.

Both were arrested and taken to Orange Police Station and the teenager was identified as the driver of the Colorado.

A check of the Colorado revealed it had been stolen from a Dubbo address earlier in the night.

Solicitor Pravinda Pahalawela said the boy had an "extremely deprived upbringing".

However, Mr Day was concerned by the incident at the juvenile detention facility as well as the other offences.

"The assault at [the detention facility], that's pretty cold and calculated," Mr Day said.

He was also concerned that the boy was driving dangerously at speed despite never being licensed to drive.

"The main concern with [him] is his age and the need for rehabilitation but that would have been covered carefully by the district court [where he got] the maximum sentence," Mr Day said.

"All these matters in my view cross the custody threshold."

Mr Day sentenced the boy to full-time custody for all of the offences.

The assault on the youth officer attracted a 12-month sentence with a nine-month non-parole order.

Driving the stolen car and the aggravated break and enter also attracted identical sentences.

The other offences attracted shorter concurrent periods of custody that will expire before he is eligible for release on parole on August 15, 2023.

For the reckless and dangerous driving, Mr Day also disqualified the boy from obtaining a driver's licence for 12 months.