The horrific details of a sleepover that turned violent for a 13-year-old boy wherexjmtzyw he was binded, beaten and burned by four teenage girls have been revealed in court.
The violent assault took place in regional NSW in March 2020 when the boy had been staying overnight at one of the girls’ homes with a group of friends.
In the early hours of March 19, the 15-year-old girl borrowed the boy’s phone before running from the home with it, according to court documents.
Two other girls joined the boy’s search for her, but turned on the victim and “forcibly dragged him back to the home” where he was set upon physically.
The group demanded the passcode to his phone as they beat him, according to court documents, before dragging the boy inside and unleashing a “prolonged assault” on him.
“It was video recorded by the respondent on the victim’s phone,” court documents state.
“He was repeatedly kicked, punched and threatened with weapons.”
Duct tape was used to bind the 13-year-old’s wrists and ankles, and cover his mouth.
According to court documents, the boy was punched in the groin and burned on the arm with a cigarette lighter while the 15-year-old girl filmed the assault on his phone.
The boy was then held to the ground while the girls used a pair of kitchen scissors to cut his hair and shave his eyebrows.
“He was further assaulted outside the house by being kneed in the chest and groin and struck on the head. The victim eventually escaped and ran to his parents’ house,” court documents revealed.
The 15-year-old girl and victim attended the same high school and were friends at the time of the offending, with the court hearing they had a group of mutual friends of similar ages.
The girl pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity to a charge of take and detain with the intention of obtaining an advantage, assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company and common assault.
According to the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal judgment summary, the teenager had “shown genuine remorse and contrition”, had changed schools in the interests of the victim to avoid future contact with him and cut ties with the co-offenders.
She was sentenced to a Community Corrections Order of 18 months, expiring on August 17, 2022 and a conviction.
However, less than a month after convicting her, the judge “felt some concern about the appropriateness of having recorded a conviction” and withdrew it.
The girl appeared in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on Tuesday where the Director of Public Prosecutions applied for the decision to be overturned.
The appeal court overturned the sentencing judge’s decision to not record a conviction, stating it was necessary to the 18-month CCO she had been sentenced to.
