Men enticed to meet for sex via social media were ambushed, youth court hears
The teenager was involved in "vigilante" attacks on three men who were enticed to meet via social media. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
In short:
A teenager has been sentenced for his role in the ambush attacks on three men who were enticed to meetings via social media under the guise of sexual encounters.
The 17-year-old did not orchestrate the meetings, but participated and did not attempt to stop it.
What's next?
The teenager was spared convictions but ordered to participate in family conferencing and placed on a six-month good behaviour bond.
A teenager involved in "vigilante" attacks on men lured to meet-ups via social media under the guise of sexual encounters, has been spared convictions for his crimes.
The now 18-year-old, was sentenced in Adelaide's Youth Court this week for his involvement in two separate ambushes instigated by his "lifelong friend".
In sentencing, Magistrate Tracee Micallef said the teen's friend had pretended to be an underage girl on social media and had sexualised conversations with a man aged in his 30s, before luring him to meet in person.
"The victim thought he was meeting to engage in a sexual interaction with what he thought was a young girl," she said.
Ms Micallef said the teenager, who was 17 at the time, only became involved in the offending when his friend invited him to the planned meeting with the man in February.
"The [friend] came to you and said he had organised to meet up with a paedophile," Ms Micallef said.
"You agreed to go with him without making any further inquiries as to what was planned or what was happening … you clearly knew that a confrontation was likely to occur."
'Humiliating and degrading' act filmed
During the confrontation, which involved a group of youths, the man was threatened with a machete and blocked from leaving.
Ms Micallef said the man was forced to transfer money to one of the other youths' accounts, and told to remove his shirt and kiss the shoes of the group or he would be assaulted.
The man initially refused and was punched.
"As he was in fear, he did what was asked of him and it was filmed — that is the humiliating and degrading act,"Ms Micallef said.
She said the victim fled and later tried to have the money returned via his bank but stopped the investigation when he received threats that the footage and embarrassing messages would be released to his family and workplace.
Ms Micallef said the victim would "always have a concern that the video footage of him is still out there in the cloud somewhere".
She said the teen had agreed he was equally responsible for the offending "despite not being the instigator or the planner".
The teenager had pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated robbery, blackmail and engaging in humiliating or degrading filming in relation to that incident, along with aggravated robbery and attempted aggravated robbery in relation to a second incident in April this year.
The men were lured to meet with the youths via social media. (AP: Jenny Kane)
Ms Micallef said the second incident involved ambushing two men who were lured to a public area, for "what they thought would be a sexual experiment, or interaction, with a third male".
She said the two men saw someone "in the dark", and were asked, but refused, to go back to their house or a school before they were threatened with a machete.
A group of youths, including the now-18-year-old, assaulted the men — one of whom was put in a headlock — and tried to take their keys and wallets, but the men escaped and alerted the police.
Ms Micallef said the teen was again not involved in the set-up, nor wielding the machete or making threats but was "willingly" present.
She said the teen — who had spent about two weeks in youth detention after his arrest — had a stable home life, was well-behaved at school and had provided multiple glowing character references to the court.
The magistrate said the teen had recognised that despite being long-time friends, the youth who organised the meetings was "now a negative influence on your behaviour".
'Vigilante behaviour is not acceptable'
She said the court had been told that aside from his close friend, he did not know the other youths involved and had been "dragged" into the offending.
"Whilst I can accept that the first time you joined your childhood friend you may have not been aware of the planned robbery or humiliation or blackmail … but you did participate in it," she said.
"You did not leave, nor did you try to stop it.
"Even if you did nothing but stand there, by your presence you made it frightening for the victim and supported the others in that action.
"I can also accept that to some extent you may have thought that you were dealing with, or somehow punishing someone who was behaving inappropriately, or about to.
"However, this behaviour cannot be condoned in any way … this type of vigilante behaviour is not acceptable."
Ms Micallef diverted the youth to family conferencing for the offences against the first victim and imposed a six-month good behaviour bond for the second incident. She did not impose any convictions.