A 17-year-old boy has been sentenced to three years in juvenile detention after admitting to ramming and injuring a Kimberley police sergeant while behind the wheel of a stolen car.
The boy, who cannot be identified, was in the midst of a crime spree in and around Fitzroy Crossing, when he rammed a stolen ute into a police vehicle driven by Sergeant Neville Ripp on a single-lane bridge near the town on September 20 last year.
The force of the impact sent the police vehicle rolling and spinning off the road, nearly 30 metres from the initial point of impact, with Sergeant Ripp trapped inside and suffering injuries to his spine, neck and head.
The boy and two others fled the scene of the crash, leaving Sergeant Ripp and a fourth juvenile in the stolen vehicle.
The officer, who has served across a number of Kimberley postings and is highly regarded for his long service in the Fitzroy Valley, spent months recuperating from his injuries, including time in a neck brace.
Facing the Perth Children's Court last week, the boy was sentenced over a string of offences, including dangerous driving and multiple counts of both burglary and motor vehicle theft.
The court heard he had taken part in a string of burglaries around Fitzroy before the crash — including one where an accomplice threatened a man with a metal bar.
Other break-ins saw him remove an air-conditioning vent to gain entry to a Fitzroy Crossing home with the victims asleep inside, while another saw him kick in the door of a residential unit in town and demand car keys from the resident.
Police sergeant could have been killed
The attack on Sergeant Ripp was the highest-profile of what became a string of incidents of young offenders stealing cars, ramming police and leading them on dangerous pursuits.
Children's Court President Hylton Quail said the boy could easily have killed the veteran Kimberley police officer.
"It's his job to look after the community. He goes out, he has a family," Judge Quail said.
"Just trying to do his job safely, and he has got to deal with you putting his life at risk because you're out joy riding.
Factoring in the boy's numerous burglary offences, and his breach of a previous conditional release order set down by the Broome Children's Court, Judge Quail said it was impossible to divorce the sentencing proceedings and ongoing concerns around crime across the wider Kimberley community.
"You're probably thinking to yourself, 'Well, they're annoyed because I've nicked their cars', but that's not why they're upset," he told the boy.
"The poor fellow who was locked in while you were trying to bash the door down to get the keys, and then the serious one which becomes a robbery — you've armed yourself because you might become involved in a confrontation.
"They feel scared the next week, the next month — some of them will still be scared today."
No contact from boy's parents
The boy was supported by his grandmother during his court appearance and is likely to be released to her custody once his sentence is completed.
Appearing for the 17-year-old, lawyer Asma Khan said the boy was using cannabis heavily at the time of the incidents.
"This is a 17-year-old boy who's scared, he knows he's been committing serious offences. He's not thinking," she said of the ramming.
But she conceded the teenager's repeated burglaries were not impulsive and were done with car thefts in mind.
Ms Khan said the boy had not spoken to his parents since he was detained at Banksia Hill in September.
Judge Quail said he was staggered by the parents' lack of interest.
"He has had absolutely no visits, can't get hold of his parents and they're showing no interest at all," he said.
Judge Quail said he factored in the boy's "difficult" 200 days already spent in custody at the controversial detention centre into the boy's sentence.
"All the kids up there have got to know what happens when you drive like this because maybe it will make them think again," he said.
"Maybe it will make them stop doing it in future."
The teenager's three-year, two-month sentence was backdated to September last year, with the 17-year-old eligible for supervised release after 19 months.
