‘Gangsta attitude’: Boy, 13, bragged about stabbing someone before rampage through Shenton College with knife

A 13-year-old boy who went on a frightening rampage, brandishing a knife while assaulting eight students and a teacher at Shenton College has narrowly avoided detention. The teen was on bail for other offences when he attacked fellow students and shoved a teacher in the chest after punching her arm on March 19. The youngest victims were 11-year-old girls, the Perth Children’s Court was told on Monday. The boy pushed one of them so hard she was launched “into the air” and landed on her back while the other fell over a low limestone wall onto her back into bushes after being pushed in the chest. A 12-year-old girl who tried to move out of his way was pushed and also fell over a limestone wall, striking her head on a bench and losing consciousness momentarily. The rampage started with an attack on a 12-year-old boy who was grabbed by the shoulders, pushed into lockers, punched in the eye three times and swung around so his head hit the wall. The teen had been brandishing an 8cm knife, which he carried when he then charged through the canteen, shoving another 12-year-old to the ground and stomping on his arm after he refused to hand over money. The offender also kicked and shoved two 13-year-old boys waiting at the service hatch. He held up the knife to the 66-year-old canteen worker, demanding “give me the money, give me the money”, then grabbed the cash register and fled. The boy was bailed up by staff including the principal in the car park and police were called. The teen’s lawyer said he had very little recollection of what happened and had not been taking his ADHD medication. She said he suffered depression and believed he had undiagnosed autism. “He has a real gansta-type attitude and he is constantly trying to impress his young peers,” the lawyer said. “He’s extremely immature and I don’t think he grasps the seriousness of the charges.” She added that he exaggerated his substance use, which was “part of his bravado” and she didn’t believe drugs explained his offending. “Stop talking s... about me,” the boy, who spent much of the hearing face-down at the bar table, told the lawyer. The prosecutor said the rampage was pre-planned to an extent: the boy had sent messages to a friend about bringing a knife to school and stabbing someone, and asked his mate to film it. Magistrate Andrée Horrigan viewed footage of the incident in chambers and emerged describing the footage as “confronting”. “It was just marching around and hurting people,” she said. “It was pretty scary. Most of the people wouldn’t have known you were coming. You came out of the blue.” The boy pleaded guilty to multiple counts of assault and one of assault causing bodily harm, and also a count of with intent to steal used violence over an August 28 attack in Leederville. The court was told the boy was at a skate park when he randomly asked a man walking past on his way to work for a puff on his vape. When the man refused, he rushed him from behind and tried to steal his Gucci sunglasses, causing the victim to fall to the ground. The magistrate described the offending as very serious, saying it had left the victims hurt and shocked. She said she had to remind herself the boy was very young and had pleaded guilty to all charges. Ms Horrigan imposed a six-month intensive supervision order and also ordered the boy to get counselling, saying he’d come “very close” to being detained. He had spent 37 days behind bars. “If you want to go back there, punch somebody else,” the magistrate warned. “That’s all it’s going to take.” The court was told the boy’s medication had been increased. Outside, he uttered profanities at waiting media.