The boy, 14 at the time of the offence, must spend at least 10 years in jail after stabbing 22-year-old Bram Willems to death
that Willems’ mother, Christy Lacroix, told the court: “You have taken a life that was worth living, a life that I fought for, for 22 years. No excuses could justify taking a life.”
Brewer said life imprisonment was appropriate in this case, despite the youth’s age. He said youth was not an unusual feature of offences of serious violence, and carried little weight against the public interest. He imposed a minimum non-parole period of 10 years. Separately, the court of appeal is currently considering the cases of three young convicted murderers who appealed against life sentences. The case forms the basis for a broader challenge, asking if it is “manifestly unjust” to sentence children and young people to life sentences.
Last year, in a joint statement, the children’s commissioner and psychology and law academics called for an end to life sentences for children, calling them “harmful and ineffective”. Children’s and teenagers’ brains are not fully developed, they argue, and so they should not carry full adult criminal responsibility.
“No child or young person should be sentenced in the adult criminal justice system,” they wrote. “Punitive adult sentences, such as life imprisonment and minimum non-parole periods, should not be available for children and young persons.”
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