A 14-year-old boy has been made the subject of an 18-month detention and training order after he was caught on CCTV carrying out a mobile phone robbery.
The teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, is already permanently excluded from school.
Despite pleas by the boy's barrister, Caroline Wigin, that he should be allowed to continue taking part in an intensive supervision and surveillance programme (ISSP), Judge Kerry Macgill said he hoped the teenager would learn some lessons by being sent to custody.
Prosecutor Tahir Khan described how the robbery victim, an 18-year-old student, had been listening to music on his CD player while he waited for a friend outside Thornton recreation centre. CCTV cameras filmed a Toyota car driving into the car park and the 14-year-old and another youth getting out and approaching the schoolboy.
"This defendant came up to him and grabbed his CD player from out of his right hand saying 'I'll have that'," said Mr Khan.
The youngster demanded the victim's mobile phone and when he said he didn't have one he was pushed down an embankment. The teenager then threatened to kill him and he handed the phone over, fearing for his safety.
"For no apparent reason, the defendant punched him on the left side of his face," added Mr Khan.
The defendant admitted robbery last month, but Judge Macgill heard that since then he had been involved in taking a vehicle without consent and had been made the subject of the ISSP order as a condition of his bail.
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