A GROWING trend among young people of joy-riding will lead to someone being “seriously hurt or killed”, the Magistrate has said as two teens were sentenced in court yesterday.
The police have been attempting to tackle a spate of joyriding incidents, which has seen cars taken primarily by young people often already known to the force.
Yesterday, a 16-year-old was sentenced to 90 hours of community service and disqualified from driving for 18 months – which means he won’t be able to get a moped licence or learn to drive.
And a 14-year-old was given an 18-month probation order and disqualified from driving for three years.
The teenagers cannot be named because of their ages.
Magistrate Bridget Shaw, presiding over the Youth Court, said at the first teenager’s sentencing: “We have heard a number of cases where young people have taken cars in Jersey in recent months, and this has to stop, because sooner or later, someone will be seriously hurt or killed.”
Legal advisor Kerry Grieve, prosecuting, said the 16-year-old was involved in taking two cars. The teen was one of two people seen on CCTV taking a car from DVS parking, where the car was awaiting repairs with the key on the front tyre.
The 16-year-old admitted that he “had found out the vehicle had been parked at the DVS and that the keys had been left on the tyre because a friend had told him”, the court heard.
They had gone to take the car from the compound, but they “noticed there was an issue with the steering” and returned it to the car park “to try and fix it”.
“When they weren’t able to do that, they drove away again and picked up two more friends. They went for a joyride around town and pulled into the Seymour Inn car park,” Ms Grieve said.
The teenager said in a police interview he hadn’t driven the car himself.
On 11 February, police officers found the car in the car park at the Seymour Inn, with the 16-year-old’s fingerprints inside.
The second incident, the prosecutor said, came to light when a motorist noticed a driver at a petrol station who “appeared to be very young”, which prompted him to follow the car and eventually call the police.
It transpired that the car had been parked in a garage after being sold and was waiting to be picked up by its new owner with the keys left inside.
“He said to police that that was the first time he had driven a car and that he wasn’t sure how to do it, so he looked at the manual,” Ms Grieve said.
The teenager thought he had driven the car five times that week.
Advocate Ashley Quenault, defending, stressed the teenager’s “capacity for rehabilitation” and that he had changed his friend group.
“It should hopefully be a bump in the road,” the advocate added, with the teenager telling the court he knew his actions “weren’t right”.
“Hopefully my punishment teaches me something,” he said. “I will never do it ever again and I will learn from my mistakes.”
Addressing the teenager, Mrs Shaw said: “You were driving two vehicles. You are too young to drive, you haven’t had any training and not only were you in danger but other people on the road could be in danger and your young friends who you were giving lifts to were also in danger.
“Do you realise how serious this is and how tragic an outcome could have resulted?”
But there was “cause for optimism” as the boy spoke well in court and wrote a letter of remorse, she said.
She sentenced him to a total of 90 hours of community service, disqualified him from driving for 18 months, and gave him a nine-month probation order – although Mrs Shaw said the offences were serious enough for custody.
He was also ordered to pay £95 in compensation.
Though the cars weren’t properly secured, Mrs Shaw said the Youth Court panel “do not accept the argument that you should not pay because [the owner] didn’t check on the vehicle and left the key in the vehicle”.
“He should be able to do that if he wishes to do that and he should not have had his vehicle taken,” she added.
The second teenager took a Ford Ka in December, from a man who had left the keys inside in case his landlord might need to move his car during construction work.
The 14-year-old boy was seen driving the car on Langley Avenue, in St Saviour, wearing a balaclava. His fingerprints were found in the car and two videos showed him driving it.
And on 23 February, Ms Grieve said police caught him driving a white Nissan Leaf at 43mph on a 15mph road without wearing a seatbelt.
Videos showed him driving wearing a balaclava, but with his eyes visible.
Advocate Quenault, defending, said he had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and had a positive relationship with his social worker.
His family was struggling with his behaviour so much that they have considered the child coming into care, his social worker said, and they were already being supported.
Mrs Shaw told him: “Wanting to be caught on video – I don’t know if you think that’s clever because of TikTok or whatever. It’s not clever.”
Handing down the sentence for two counts of taking and driving away, two counts of driving while disqualified, two of driving without a seatbelt, two of driving without insurance and one of speeding, Mrs Shaw said she hoped that things at home would improve and warned of the “horrific” consequences of an accident.
Earlier this year, the police launched Operation Handle to tackle joyriding after the number taken without the owners’ knowledge doubled during the first two months of the year compared to 12 months prior.
Under the initiative, Islanders who leave their cars unlocked with the keys inside may return to find them taken by a police officer removing them to pre-empt a possible crime.
The driver will then have to make a trip to Police Headquarters to get their keys back.
