A teenager suffered several injuries while desperately trying to stop some robbers stealing his car during an incident in which he was "ambushed", hit with a hammer and threatened with a box cutter in Canberra's north.
He was eventually thrown to the road by his fleeing assailants, one of whom was punished on Wednesday over what Justice Michael Elkaim described as "an horrific crime of aggravated robbery".
The ACT Supreme Court judge sentenced the 16-year-old offender, who cannot be named because of his age, to 20 months in jail.
An agreed statement of facts shows the victim was 17 when the crime occurred in March 2021.
For a few days early that month, he discussed topics that included his sexuality with another Snapchat user.
They eventually agreed to meet in Kaleen one night.
When the 17-year-old arrived at the agreed location, Justice Elkaim said he was "effectively ambushed while he was sitting in his motor car".
His initial assailants were two males, each of whom opened a door to the Mitsubishi Lancer and started punching and kicking the victim in the nose, cheeks and jaw.
The offenders then tried to drag the victim from the vehicle, with one of them ripping his shirt in the process.
The victim eventually got out and tried to get into a nearby van, but it drove off and he tried return to his car.
He went back to be hit by his assailants, who had by this point grown in number to three.
"The victim was called a paedophile and a stalker by one or some of these males," the agreed facts say.
"One of the males grabbed the key from the victim and tried to start the car, but was unsuccessful.
"The victim was then thrown into the back seat of his vehicle, while one of the males demanded the victim tell them how to start the car."
A box cutter was subsequently held to the 17-year-old's neck as he protested, and he was dragged out of the car once the offenders managed to get it going.
He jumped onto the back of the Lancer and grabbed onto an antenna in a desperate attempt to stop the robbers fleeing, but he eventually let go and fell onto the road as the car took off.
The victim, whose phone had also been stolen, ultimately flagged down a passing car and emergency services were alerted to the robbery.
"The victim was observed to be pretty hysterical, covered in blood and with lacerations all over him," the agreed facts state.
He was later assessed to have suffered multiple abrasions to his torso, abdomen, right shoulder and arm. He also experienced chest and abdominal tenderness, and pain in his right hip.
To date, only one of the offenders has been identified by police.
That boy was originally set to fight an aggravated robbery charge at trial, but he pleaded guilty earlier this year in the face of evidence that included a phone call made while he was remanded in custody.
"We robbed this c---, and he was on the roof and then we done a drift and he fell off the roof while we were going like 150," the offender told his mother over the phone from the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre.
The 16-year-old, who was just 14 at the time of his crime, had spent 311 days in custody for the robbery and unrelated crimes prior to Wednesday, when he read Justice Elkaim a letter expressing remorse.
He expressed hope that he would be able to become a barista, play football and be a good role model for his younger brother upon his release from custody.
Prosecutor Beth Morrisroe urged Justice Elkaim to be cautious about the letter, saying the boy's expressions of remorse had come "exclusively in the lead-up to the sentencing proceedings".
But the offender's barrister, Rajiv Baldeo, said the 16-year-old had "properly accepted" help and was determined to change his ways.
Mr Baldeo argued his client's moral culpability for the crime was reduced because the boy suffered from an intellectual disability, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Justice Elkaim, who labelled the robbery "truly appalling" and "pretty nasty stuff", acknowledged the boy had endured a deprived childhood that had led him to start "his apprenticeship as a long-term criminal".
The judge said the boy must be given the opportunity to change, however, adding that he believed the offender's letter contained "a sense of genuine contrition".
He ultimately imposed the 20-month jail sentence, which he backdated by five months to reflect time served on remand.
Justice Elkaim ordered the boy to serve five more months before the second half of the sentence is suspended from next April.
