Qld teen jailed for robbery at knifepoint

Laine Clark | January 20, 2023

Months after hospitalising a food courier in a racist attack, Tryirone Jaeline Stewart robbed two teens at knifepoint while an accomplice filmed it on her phone.

Stewart, 19, breached two probation orders when he drove a stolen car with four girls and they jumped the two boys in January 2022, the Brisbane District Court heard.

The girls – aged 12 to 15 at the time – stole alcohol while Stewart waited in the car before he drove to Brighton north of Brisbane and saw the boys leaving a supermarket.

Stewart and three of the girls got out of the car and surrounded the boys, who were aged 14 and 15 at the time.

They stole jewellery and a backpack after Stewart produced a knife, holding it inches away from one of the victims.

One of the girls filmed the attack and sent it to the accomplice who had remained in the car, the court heard.

The offence indicated an “escalation of violence”, occurring just four months after the attack on an Uber Eats driver in a fast food restaurant car park, the crown prosecutor said.

Stewart was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm after telling the courier to “go back to his own country” before hitting him up to 10 times in the head.

The delivery driver was taken to hospital with facial swelling.

Stewart had an “extremely prejudicial upbringing”, exposed to drugs and violence in and out of the home which had an overwhelming impact, the court heard.

He was dealing with a “plethora of mental health issues” after enduring an abusive childhood in which he was forced to physically defend his mother, his defence barrister said.

A psychologist’s report indicated Stewart was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, addiction issues and severe behavioural disorder, the court heard.

Stewart was introduced to alcohol by 12, consuming a four-litre cask of wine per sitting at times and using methamphetamine by 18, his defence barrister said.

He stopped taking drugs for about two years when he had a job, a girlfriend and a baby but relapsed when the relationship broke down, the court heard.

“At the time of the offending you were living on a cocktail of hard drugs intravenously,” Judge Leanne Clare said.

Stewart on Friday pleaded guilty to three charges including armed robbery in company.

He was sentenced to three years in jail but will be released on parole in May, with 188 days in custody declared time served.

“Time in prison has at least given you the sobriety to see that you need to clean up if you want to save your daughter from the same kind of exposure that you had as a child,” Judge Clare said.

“You need to prove that you can be a good father who is safe to be around.”