Arabic version: الحكم على مراهق بسبب اعتداء قرب مكتبة ميتشام

According to ABC News, an 18-year-old Adelaide teenager has been sentenced in the Youth Court for attacking a 64-year-old woman who was sleeping rough near the Mitcham Memorial Library at Hawthorn in November 2025. The teenager cannot be identified and had already spent a year in detention.

The teenager previously pleaded guilty to causing harm with intent and serious criminal trespass relating to a series of break-ins after the attack. Magistrate John Wells described the offence against the vulnerable woman as “unambiguously serious”, saying the attack was sustained and vicious, with violence that was repeated, persistent and forceful.

The court heard the attack lasted nine minutes and that the teenager recorded portions of it. Magistrate Wells said comments made to the woman were aggressive and callous, and described the offending as brutal, random, unprovoked and prolonged. The victim suffered broken ribs, a fractured eye socket, a scalp haematoma and a fractured jaw.

The court had previously heard the teenager had a “cocktail of substances” in his system and was in a state of dysregulation at the time. He has since been diagnosed with alcohol use disorder, autism and severe ADHD. He was sentenced to a further four months in detention, followed by one year of supervision after his release in March next year. If he re-offends during that period, he will be ordered to spend three months and 16 days in detention.