A 13-year-old charged with a string of offences including allegedly swerving a stolen car towards members of the Jewish community looked up the punishment for running someone over after hitting a cyclist, a court has heard.
The 13-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, appeared on Monday in a Victorian children’s court seeking bail.
She is facing 109 charges, including reckless conduct endangering serious injury, theft, motor vehicle theft and burglary.
In one incident on 30 March, the girl was allegedly behind the wheel of a stolen car in Brighton in Melbourne’s south-east and attempted to hit a cyclist with the passenger door of the car.
An argument ensued between the cyclist and the car occupants before it was allegedly driven into the 45-year-old man, knocking him to the ground.
Police were able to go through the girl’s phone, where they found some “troubling” content, including videos.
“Shortly after that incident – within three minutes – she Googled how long the sentence is for running someone over,” Det Sen Const Jarryd Grey told the court on Monday.
“It’s quite troubling … we realised it’s premeditated.”
The girl thrived on notoriety and was invested in how many news articles and likes on social media coverage of her alleged offending generated, the detective said.
“She thinks it gives her status in her group which is really concerning,” he said.
The court heard about other alleged incidents targeting Jewish people, including antisemitic remarks shouted at pedestrians in Hampton, Ripponlea and Caulfield, and swerving towards a Jewish family in Ripponlea – causing them run for cover in March.
“There was a web search on ‘where do Jews live’,” Det Grey told the court.
“It shows us it is targeted. She is going out of her way to target a certain community.”
The prosecutor said the teen’s offending had escalated to a point where she was allegedly offending an average of 1.45 times a day in 74 days.
“It’s reached its current peak in which a 13-year-old child is not only repeatedly been behind the wheel of a stolen car, but is weaponising them at the risk of road users,” he said.
“She has expressed that nothing will stop her offending.”
The girl’s defence lawyer, in arguing for her bail, said youth justice had agreed to supervise her and alert authorities if she breached conditions.
He said his client had expressed a willingness to return to school and could do so once school holidays were over.
The magistrate, in denying the girl bail, said it was the only conclusion he could reach as the “risk to the community is overwhelming.”
The girl will face the court again on 4 May.
