Victorian Labor signals tougher stance on young offenders after 109 charges against 14-year-old dropped

The Victorian Labor government says it will “do everything” it can to “toughen consequences” for young offenders after police withdrew 109 charges against a 14-year-old girl, in a case the opposition described as proof “the justice system is broken”.

The girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had been facing 109 charges, including reckless conduct endangering serious injury, motor vehicle theft and burglary, after an alleged two-month crime spree earlier this year when she was aged 13.

But Victoria police on Thursday confirmed the charges were dropped in court on Wednesday due to their concerns around the doli incapax rule – a legal presumption that states a child under 14 can only be convicted of a crime if prosecutors can prove they understood what they did was seriously wrong.

“The charges were withdrawn because the police prosecution was unable to rebut the legal presumption that a child aged 13 and under is incapable of committing a criminal offence,” a police spokesperson said in a statement.

“This is a high legal threshold that requires the prosecution to prove the child knew their conduct was seriously morally wrong.”

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A children’s court previously heard the girl was allegedly offending an average of 1.45 times a day over a period of 74 days. On 30 March, she was allegedly behind the wheel of a stolen car that rammed into a 45-year-old cyclist in Brighton, in Melbourne’s south-east, knocking him to the ground and causing a brain bleed.

Within three minutes of the incident, she Googled “how long the sentence is for running someone over”, the court heard.

The girl was also accused of shouting antisemitic remarks at pedestrians in Caulfield, Hampton and Ripponlea, and allegedly swerving a car towards a Jewish family while behind the wheel, also in Ripponlea.

Police had told the court she had also searched “where do Jews live” and had gone “out of her way” to target the community.

In their statement on Thursday, police said they “understand the concern these incidents have caused in the community, especially for members of the Jewish community”.

Liberal MP David Southwick, whose electorate of Caulfield is home to the state’s largest Jewish population, said the case proved there was “no justice system in Victoria”.

“Our justice system is broken and this is another example of it. Particularly at the time when we’ve got a royal commission looking at antisemitism, we have a situation where a young person is let off for going around hunting Jews, trying to Google where they live,” Southwick, said.