something is seriously wrong here

[Valkie]

Stab attack on girl a ‘chilling example of human conduct’: Judge
EXCLUSIVE
CARLA HILDEBRANDT

THE mother of a teenage girl, who was stabbed and left to die in a burning house by two teen boys, broke down in tears and shook her head furiously as she heard the attackers could be released from prison in less than two years.

Fire crews found the semiconscious girl, 16, with stab wounds to her abdomen, back and head inside the burning house in Albury in southern NSW in November, 2019.

She had been attacked by two boys, aged 16 and 17 at the time, who were staying the night at her mother’s home.

District Court Judge Sean Grant called it a “callous crime” with “no apparent motive” as he sentenced the pair, now aged 18 and 19, at Albury Court on Tuesday.

“To stab, choke and immobilise someone and leave them to be ravaged by a fire ... It’s a chilling example of human conduct,” he said.

The men, referred to as DC and EW because they were children at the time of the attack, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm, attempt to murder and destroying property with the intent to endanger life. They were sentenced to an aggregate sentence of seven years, and could be released on parole as early as May, 2023.

Judge Grant told the court: “The attack would have been terrifying for the victim.”

She managed to survive the ordeal by playing dead as the attackers set fire to her home and fled.

The court heard DC, who was homeless for six weeks prior to the stabbing, was previously “best friends” with the girl. He had chosen to leave home to see whether he could survive without his “supportive” parents and prove he was no longer a “little kid”, the court heard.

He was remorseful, telling prison officers he was “so ashamed” of his “horrific” behaviour.

“Everybody wants to know why this happened and honestly I’ve been asking myself for 20 months. I truly just don’t know,” he said.

He used cannabis, which he said “fried his brain”, causing him to lose his sense of reality.

EW had suffered abuse at the hands of his dad and was diagnosed with autism and borderline personality disorder.

Judge Grant told the court: “No sentence I impose can ever restore the victim to the time before ... I hope this proceeding does in some way bring some kind of resolution for her.”