Teen attacker sentenced to four-month community based order after violent school brawl

The lawyer of a 14-year-old girl who attacked another teen, leaving her with a black eye, has told the court the girl was driven to violence due to unresolved “anger issues”. The teenager, who cannot be named because she is underage, appeared in Rockingham Children’s Court on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm. Police prosecutor Sgt Brian Sutherland told the court that at 11.13am on November 6, 2022, the teenager had attended the victim’s school, a high school in the Rockingham area, after she had been talking about her. The teen questioned the victim — a former friend — about what she had heard but the victim denied the allegations. The teenager then became aggressive and angry with the victim, pulling her hair before delivering multiple punches to her face. The assault left the victim with a bruise to her left eye and she was taken to hospital for treatment after the incident. The 14-year-old was later arrested, where she made admissions to the assault. Legal Aid lawyer Claire Rossi said the victim and the teenager had previously been friends and shared mutual friends. Ms Rossi said violence was “quite often” used by young people to resolve issues and that, in this instance, this had been the case. “She has some anger issues and the peer group she is friends with quite often uses violence to resolve things,” she said. “(Her) mum has concerns with how she deals with anger and wants her to find ways she can deal with this without resulting to violence.” The teenager has since been referred to the Target120 program, Ms Rossi said, which would help her to develop goals to stay out of trouble. Magistrate Catherine Crawford asked whether Youth Justice could facilitate a mediation between the victim and the teenager or if she would consider writing letter of apology to the victim, as “this would help her to understand the impact of what she did to the victim”. Ms Rossi said the teenager did not wish to see the victim again but that, with assistance, she would be open to writing a letter. Before sentencing Ms Crawford said she hoped the teenager had “learnt from this”. “You don’t sort out problems from violence,” she said. “I understand that this is not something you accept at this moment but we live in a community where you have to sort out problems in a peaceful way. “I take into account your youth, no previous convictions and that you have accepted responsibility at the earliest opportunity. “Giving people a flogging is not the way to solve issues.” Ms Crawford said Target120 and Youth Justice would provide her with a better understanding of her actions and help her to set some goals. The 14-year-old was handed a four-month community-based order with supervision and program requirements.