Warrnambool district teenager sentenced over sexual assaults

The now 18-year-old pleaded guilty to sex offences, including rape and sexual penetration of a child under 16, in a children's court on Friday.

He was sentenced to 15 months in a youth detention centre but later granted appeal bail.

The court heard the man sexually assaulted four girls between 2019 and 2022.

The first incident took place at a toilet block when he was 14 and the victim was 13.

The court heard he demanded a "hand job" and then bit her at least three times when she refused.

He sexually assaulted her and threatened to share intimate photos of her if she didn't kiss him.

The teenager faced a court the following year and was placed on a therapeutic treatment order.

The offences were discharged in 2022 after the completion of that order, which involved educational programs focusing on consent, age, respect and equality.

But in 2021, when the offender was aged 16, he raped a 17-year-old female the court heard.

He wasn't interviewed for that offending until earlier this year, when he told police he "fu**** up" and didn't know why he did it.

Two months later he sexually penetrated a 13-year-old girl, the court heard.

The offender, who was 16 at the time, told police he knew she was 12 or 13.

He pleaded guilty to that offending and in August 2021 was put on another therapeutic treatment order.

That order was breached within eight months when he asked a 13-year-old into a public toilet and demanded she get on her knees.

He then sexually assaulted her.

In his record of interview he said he knew she was in year seven - four years below him.

The court heard the first and fourth victims were friends.

The teenager was sentenced on Friday over the incidents in 2021 and 2022.

A magistrate said he had never dealt with so many sex assault matters in a children's court.

"The offending here is very serious and is part of a pattern of entitled sexual offending," he said.

He said the offender's "reoccurant interaction" with young females, all of similar age, and the offending against them was concerning.

He said the teenager's culpability was high, given he was on the therapeutic orders and the prosecution had previously said he was "well aware of the wrongfulness of his acts".

An application seeking to place the teen on the sex offender registry was adjourned to a later date.

His lawyer claimed the teenager would already face barriers due to his criminal history and that being on the registry would place "significant stigma on him as a young adult".

Child registered offenders are usually required to report for four years, seven-and-half years, or for the rest of their lives.

During the period of registration, offenders must report to police a number of intimate details, including their internet identities, employment details and travel plans, either annually or within seven days of any changes.

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