A teenager has been given a 12-month community order for handling stolen goods after an 11-year-old was attacked at Ryde Skate Park back in 2022.
Levi Taylor, 18, of George Street in Ryde, appeared before a Judge at the Isle of Wight Crown Court last week (Friday 4th July), having previously admitted handling stolen goods.
Prosecutor, Tim Devlin, told the court that on the 28th October 2022 at Ryde Skate Park, Taylor was involved in a gang attack on an 11-year-old child who saw his necklace stolen.
Whilst Taylor wasn’t the one to snatch the chain from the child’s neck, he did put him in a headlock, the court heard. Taylor eventually went home with the jewellery, before his mother informed Police that her son had the chain.
When interviewed, Taylor made admissions but strongly denied his original charge of robbery. The then-16-year-old was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time.
Defending Taylor, Jonathan Underhill, said that his client had ended up in the adult court for no reason and that he would’ve been dealt with in the youth court had proceedings been dealt with ‘expeditiously’. He also added that since the period of offending, Taylor had kept himself out of trouble.
Judge James Newton-Price handed Taylor a 12-month community order with 20 rehabilitation days and 75 hours of unpaid work attached.
The original charge of robbery will lie in Taylor’s criminal file.
To go wrong at such a young age, not looking good
for his future.
Well done to his mother. It sounds like he is a real handful who has fallen in with a bad crowd. Hopefully her actions, probably her final desperate attempt to keep him on the straight and narrow, will knock some sense into him.