Teenager placed on order for “brutal” park assault, allegedly defending his girlfriend

A 17-year-old boy has been warned he would have received a jail term if he was “just a few months older” after viciously assaulting another young man at a South West park, allegedly to defend his girlfriend’s honour.

The teenager, who cannot be named, was placed on a three-month youth community-based order with supervision requirements during a sitting of the Bunbury Children’s Court after previously pleading guilty to an assault charge.

The court was told the boy attended a park in Dalyellup when he approached another young man and told him to “stay away from my girlfriend”.

The teenager then walked behind the bench the victim was seated on, grabbed him by the jaw and pulled him off the bench before hurling a number of punches at the victim and stamping on his chest.

When the victim managed to scurry away, he later returned to try to retrieve his hat from the bench, only for the teenager to beat him once again, throwing nine uppercuts during the second assault.

The victim escaped to a nearby house and asked occupants to call an ambulance before he was taken to hospital and treated for facial injuries.

The court was also told the victim had since obtained a violence restraining order against the teenager.

The boy’s defence counsel Derek Hunter told the court the attack was “spontaneous” rather than pre-meditated after coming across the victim while out with his girlfriend.

It was submitted the boy’s girlfriend alleged there was an incident between her and the victim and the boy felt obligated to defend his girlfriend’s honour.

Despite successfully completing court conferencing and engaging in counselling for anger management, Magistrate Linda Keane said the matter was “far too serious” to be dismissed without further punishment.

“If you were only a few months older, you’d be facing jail time,” she told the boy in sentencing.

“I can understand how some people, even women, resort to behaviour like this to defend their partners but there’s aspects of that attitude that is not healthy.

“This is no way to deal with someone offending your girlfriend.

“She needs your support, not you just going around bashing people up.”