Two teenage girls have faced court after a man was allegedly slashed with knives during a botched Facebook Marketplace robbery.
The girls, aged 13 and 15 who can’t be named for legal reasons, faced Perth Children’s Court on Monday each charged with aggravated armed robbery and unlawful wounding.
Western Australia Police alleged the pair organised to meet the victim, a 43-year-old man, through Facebook Marketplace in Banksia Grove on the afternoon of July 9 so they could purchase his iPhone 12 Pro Max.
The 13-year-old allegedly snatched the man’s phone from his hands and ran off to meet up with the 15-year-old, sparking a foot chase down suburban streets and into the neighbouring suburb of Carramar.
The girls allegedly produced knives and cut the man to the head several times. He was taken to hospital for treatment, needing 10 staples and two sutures on three wounds.
The 15-year-0ld was the first up in court on Monday, where Acting Magistrate Edward deVries said she had an “horrendous record for violence,” revealing the girl had been on bail at the time of the alleged incident on July 9.
The state prosecutor opposed the girl’s bail, showing the magistrate a 30 second CCTV clip from the incident, which was not shown to the rest of the court.
“She has a history, some common assaults and light violent offending,” Magistrate deVries told the court.
“The state see this as an escalation in offending.”
The prosecutor also indicated she will also be charged with two counts of assault public officer, following alleged outbursts once in custody.
She was refused bail, to reappear in the same court on August 28.
However, her 13-year-old co-accused, was granted bail, to be placed under the constant supervision of her mother and grandfather.
Magistrate deVries noted this girl had a “remarkably different history,” with no prior violent offending.
The girl, appearing via video link from Banksia Hill Juvenile Detention Centre, spoke up at one point to say she was “so sorry” and was suffering from “bad anxiety.”
As part of her bail conditions, she is not allowed to have any contact with the victim, the 15-year-old girl, or a third child who is a suspected co-accused.
Their involvement had not been mentioned in previous releases, or mentioned by WA Police.
The 13-year-old is due back in the same court on July 31.
Her mother and grandfather were in court, her grandfather telling media outside that his granddaughter had no previous record, and that she “knows what she did was wrong.”
CCTV vision from the alleged incident shows adults shouting at the man as he ran after the girls, one neighbour urging him to “leave them alone” and asking what they’d done.
“She stole my phone and sliced my head” the man says as he runs past a bystander.