Victorian court strikes out charges against teenagers over Mildura bashing

Australia Broadcast Center

08-05-2025

Charges against two Victorian teenagers who bashed two other girls last year have been dropped on the grounds that they did not understand the severity of their actions.
The Children's Court heard the girls, who were aged 12 and 13 at the time, demanded a vape from three girls they knew from social media at a Deakin Avenue entertainment complex in Mildura in late November 2024.
"Why are you standing there so scared?" the court was told one of the two young girls said to the trio.
"Give us a vape or I'll smack you in the mouth," the court was told the other girl said as she pushed one of the victims against a wall.
The court was told the incident was recorded on the older girl's phone by a friend as another person clapped.
The pair then dragged two of the three girls around the hallway of the venue, the court heard, and proceeded to punch one of the victims 15 times in the face.
The other victim was kicked while she cowered on the ground and tried to protect herself.
"It's clearly a violent episode," Magistrate Russell Kelly told the court.
The older girl was charged with affray and recklessly causing injury.
The younger girl was charged with affray and threatening to cause injury.
None of the victims or their families attended the hearing.
Prosecutors sought to have the charges continue based on interviews they argued proved the girls knew what they were doing was morally wrong.
Doli incapax – the presumption that children younger than 14 are incapable of criminal intent – can be used to protect young offenders from prosecution.
The lawyers for the two girls argued that the interviews with police demonstrated that neither girl understood the severity of their actions, their rights when cautioned, or their right to access to legal representation.
Magistrate Kelly told the court he was not convinced either girl knew their actions "were morally wrong beyond reasonable doubt" and that the younger girl should have been given access to a lawyer and not just a support person.
He told the court he accepted that the girls knew the consequences of their actions and that the older girl knew someone caught doing the wrong thing went to court and could be end up being incarcerated.
Magistrate Kelly told the court the younger girl was responding to questions as opposed to offering information.
The prosecution withdrew all its charges against the two girls.
Youth crime and the age of criminal responsibility have attracted attention in Victoria this year and led to the introduction of new bail laws.
Some groups, including Victoria Legal Aid, are calling for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised from 10 to 14.
The national children's commissioner and the Australian Human Rights Commission say Victoria's new bail laws will not make communities safer and will lead to more children being incarcerated.