Boy accused of deadly crash has bail revoked after absconding

The teen’s bail was revoked as he faced a children’s court this morning, after he was arrested at his home on Tuesday.

His mother notified police after the boy failed to attend his first appointment with Youth Justice on Monday afternoon and had not been home since Sunday afternoon, the court was told.

The 17-year-old is accused of being behind the wheels of a speeding, stolen Jeep when it killed Ashburton man William Taylor on July 2 in the collision in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Burwood.

The court granted him bail on Friday, after a judge found any risk he posed could be reduced through conditions, which included a curfew and living with his mother.

The judge also found the prosecution’s case against him to be weak.

However, within two days of being granted bail the boy had breached two conditions, a prosecutor told the court on Wednesday.

“Within 48 hours of being granted bail, on the Sunday, 7 July, (the boy) failed to reside at his bail address and abide by his curfew condition,” she said.

She said he had “absconded” and his whereabouts were unknown for two days.

“His mother, Youth Justice, police had no idea about his whereabouts,” the prosecutor said.

“He didn’t have a mobile phone, he wasn’t contactable.”

The boy’s mother informed Youth Justice on Monday that she had not seen him since 2.30pm on Sunday, after he failed to attend his first appointment with the service, the court was told.

Police went to his home on Monday night and the boy was not there.

He returned yesterday evening and his mother alerted police.

The boy’s lawyer argued he should remain on bail, as he had not reoffended and it was his first time on supervised bail.

“It’s very short sample period in terms of (the boy’s) compliance with bail, not even a week,” the defence lawyer said.

He acknowledged the offending was serious and it was a “poor start” to his bail, but re-iterated a judge’s finding last week that the case against his client was weak.

The magistrate rejected this and revoked the boy’s bail, as the “structure and control” intended by his bail conditions were not sufficient to protect the community.

She said it was “terribly worrying” that he had violated the conditions so soon after being granted bail, and found he was an unacceptable risk of doing so again.

“It was non-negotiable, you’ve failed from the get-go,” she told the boy.