A teenager has avoided being sent back to juvenile detention for stealing a toddler from a busy playground in Perth's south, with the judge accepting that while the crime was every parent's "nightmare", the girl had not intended to harm the victim.
On a hot February day this year, when the girl was 14, she and a friend came across the 18-month-old girl sitting on a footpath at the Kwinana Adventure Park in the suburb of Calista.
The teenager, who cannot be identified, picked up the child and then made attempts to find her parents as well as cool the toddler down by putting water on her feet.
In movements that were recorded by CCTV cameras, the girl also approached the park's caretakers and despite being told to remain at the kiosk while the parents were found, she walked off and left the park with the child in her arms.
The footage, played in the Perth Children's Court today, then showed the girl, accompanied by her friend, going to a nearby shopping centre where she bought the toddler a new pink "onesie" and changed her into it.
She also sent a text message to her then-boyfriend, saying "I am stealing a baby".
Abduction sparks frantic search
Back at the park, the toddler's father, who had left his daughter in the care of other adults he was with to buy ice-creams, was made aware she was missing, and a search began.
Police had become involved, and they located the 14-year-old walking along a road with the toddler still in her arms, about 20 minutes later.
The girl pleaded guilty to a charge of child stealing, with state prosecutor Sinead Purvis describing the crime as "terrifying" and "every parent's worst nightmare."
Ms Purvis said while it was accepted the teenager had no intent to hurt or harm the child, she had known what she was doing was wrong.
Teen's 'maternal' intentions
Defence lawyer Claire Rossi outlined the girl's dysfunctional upbringing, telling the court at the time of the offence, her client was homeless and in a "relationship" with a much older man, which had started when she was only 10 years old.
Ms Rossi said the girl's intentions towards the toddler were quite maternal and she only wanted to make the child safe and care for her.
"She was homeless and had been abused for a long time," Ms Rossi told the court.
"This was a young person who desperately wanted to love and be loved."
The court heard the girl had expressed that at the time, she thought she was doing the right thing, but she now believed she should have thought "more like a parent" and she was "so very sorry" for what she had done.
Ms Rossi referred to the victim impact statements provided by the toddler's parents, which she described as "incredibly gracious" towards her client.
The court heard that while they were still suffering the effects of their child being taken, they had taken time to consider the teenager's young age and her difficult situation.
'Every parent's nightmare'
Children's Court president Hylton Quail accepted that the teenager had intended to try to help the toddler and find out who she was with.
But he told her when she made the decision to leave the park, she had done the wrong thing even though she still had the child's best interests at heart.
He described her crime as extremely serious.
"All parents who hear about it have this visceral fear because your mind configures all the possibilities.
"What you did affects every parent because it destroys their trust ... these very rare episodes cause helicopter parenting where parents won't let their kids out of their sight because they're worried."
Case different to Cleo Smith abduction
Judge Quail also noted the offence happened "hot on the heels" of the abduction of Cleo Smith, who in November last year was found 18 days after she was taken from her family's tent near Carnarvon, in WA's north.
However, Judge Quail said the teenager's case was "far removed and different" from that one and fell towards the lower end of the scale of seriousness of these type of offences.
After taking into account the girl's extremely dysfunctional upbringing, her lack of any criminal record and her guilty plea, Judge Quail ruled that a community-based sentence was appropriate.
The court heard the girl had also spent a total of 64 days in custody, which Judge Quail said was very significant for a young person who had never been in trouble before.
"Your punishment really has been served and what is best for the long term is you have every support," he said.
He imposed a six-month intensive supervision order with a requirement that the teenager live for three months at a youth justice hostel and that she undergoes counselling.
