The Melbourne girl accused of mowing down a cyclist and Googling “where do Jews live” had 109 charges dropped because of her age.

The Melbourne girl accused of mowing down a cyclist and Googling “where do Jews live” had 109 charges dropped because of her age.

The 14-year-old, who cannot be named, was 13 at the time she allegedly went on a two-and-a-half month crime spree targeting Jewish individuals and “weaponising” a stolen car to run down a 45-year-old man cycling in the bayside suburb of Brighton.

News.com.au last week revealed her lawyers planned to argue she was too young to know what she did was morally wrong.

The Herald Sun on Thursday reported that as a result of the legal argument for doli incapax — the legal principle that presumes a child between the ages of 10 and 14 cannot fully understand the gravity of their crimes — prosecutors dropped the charges completely.

She will not be prosecuted in a children’s court and will walk away with a clear record.

On March 30 this year, she allegedly attempted to strike the cyclist with the passenger door of a stolen SUV.

After a brief argument between the pair, the teen allegedly drove into the rear of the cyclist and knocked him from his bike. He suffered significant injuries to his neck and has described ongoing mental anguish.

Police said the teen Googled “how long is the sentence for running someone over” within three minutes of allegedly striking the cyclist.

The 14-year-old was also accused of carrying out a series of antisemitic attacks, including swerving towards members of the Jewish community in Ripponlea two days before the cyclist was knocked from his bike.

She had been charged with reckless conduct endangering serious injury, motor vehicle theft and burglary.

The teen was on bail at the time the alleged offences were carried out.

In court last Monday, she appeared via video link from a youth justice centre. She wore a grey jumper and sat with her arms crossed.

Asked by a magistrate if she could hear him, the teen responded: “Yes.”

The court heard the teen turned 14 over the weekend and that her alleged offending all occurred when she was 13. She has been in custody for 34 days.

The magistrate told prosecutors it was “obvious” the teen would argue for doli incapax.

“It’s obvious. You’re dealing with a 13-year-old,” he told the court.

“The first thing that goes into your head is doli. The kids, when they get arrested, scream to police officers, ‘doli, doli’. They’re aware of it.”

Members of the Jewish community were targeted by the out of control teen.
Members of the Jewish community were targeted by the out of control teen.

A date to hear arguments for doli incapax was set down for Monday, May 18, but prosecutors dropped the charges instead.

Charge sheets provided to news.com.au show that she allegedly stole a car valued at $30,000 from a home in Caufield North on March 25 this year.

On the same day she also allegedly stole licence plates from a vehicle in the Berwick area.

A day later, on March 26, she was accused of stealing another vehicle worth $30,000 from Camberwell.

On March 28, she was accused of driving a vehicle recklessly towards a person in Hampton that placed them in danger of death.

In Elstenwick, on the same day, she was accused of behaving in an offensive manner in a public place, using profane language in a public place and recklessly engaging in conduct driving in a manner which endangered life.

Police said that on the same day, she “threatened physical harm towards a group of persons namely Jewish people”.

The next day, on March 29, police said she stole $70.15 worth of petrol from a 7Eleven in Malvern East, stole a vehicle valued at $30,000 from Caulfield, trespassed in a Snap Fitness with the intent to steal in Bentleigh East and stole a second car valued at $15,000.

On March 30, she was accused of opening a door on a cyclist and intentionally running over a cyclist. Police said the teen Googled “how long is the sentence for running someone over” within three minutes of allegedly striking the cyclist.

She was accused of stealing another car valued at $30,000 on the same day.

The teen will have no criminal record.
The teen will have no criminal record.

The following day, she allegedly drove at speeds exceeding 200km/h “without proper control due to tyres being deflated” and “failing to take proper care through intersections that placed person/s in danger of death”.

On the same day, she allegedly stole a car valued at $10,000.

The teen is not the first to benefit from doli incapax.

A Melbourne boy in 2024 had 388 criminal charges struck out due to the doli incapax rule.

In the same year, two teenage girls, aged 12 and 13 at the time of their alleged offending, had their charges dropped after allegedly bashing two other girls.

The children’s court ruled the pair, from Mildura in the state’s northwest, did not understand the severity of their actions, which allegedly included punching one of the victims 15 times in the face in what a magistrate described as a “clearly … violent episode”.

In November last year, a 13-year-old boy had seven serious charges dropped after allegedly trying to carjack a vehicle in a Melbourne driveway while a mother and baby were inside.Two teens, captured on CCTV cameras, tried to open the driver and passenger doors of the vehicle in Ashburton on August 31.

The most prominent recent example of doli incapax being applied in Victoria followed the fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Declan Cutler in March of 2022.

The teen was accused of mowing down a cyclist in the Melbourne bayside suburb of Brighton. Picture: David Crosling
The teen was accused of mowing down a cyclist in the Melbourne bayside suburb of Brighton. Picture: David Crosling

Cutler was killed in Coburg North by a gang of teens. Police told a court among his attackers was a 13-year-old boy who they allege was captured on CCTV stomping on Cutler’s head repeatedly while others stabbed him and returning to stomp on the victim’s unconscious body a second time after the first frenzied attack ended.

Supreme Court Justice Rita Incerti found in 2023 there was a “reasonable probability (the boy) did not know (his) conduct was seriously wrong in a moral sense”.

The teen “cannot be found guilty of murder or the alternative charge of manslaughter”, she ruled.

Speaking exclusively to news.com.au, Declan’s mother Sam Cutler said youth crime in Victoria is out of control because teens know under the law they are untouchable.

“I strongly (believe) youth crime is out of control and there is not sufficient punishment for these kids who keep offending,” she said.

“There is no rehab for these kids, they are too far into the gang scene. They know nothing else but violence.”