A homeless teenage girl chasing a boy riding his scooter in Albury's Dean Street then on to Kiewa Street pulled out what a witness thought was a pocket knife, a court has heard.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The knife turned out to be a pair of scissors, which she said she carried for "self-defence" because "a lot of people hassle me".
Martisha Haigh, Albury Local Court was told on Monday, ran after the boy from QEII Square and stole his scooter when, she claimed, he called her group of friends "junkies".
IN OTHER NEWS:
Magistrate Richard Funston was scathing of her behaviour, which he described to defence lawyer Lucy Maher as "stand-over treatment".
Ms Maher said it was accepted that what Haigh did back on March 23, three days before her 19th birthday, was a "relatively serious instance of these kind of offences".
"It is a crime of impulse," she said.
Police withdrew charges of being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence and steal from person.
With that, Haigh - who was supported in court by her grandmother - pleaded guilty to intimidation and larceny.
Haigh, who had only a sixth-grade education, recently began living with her uncle in Albury, Ms Maher said.
She pointed out that Haigh appeared to suffer from some form of intellectual disability, because while she understood simple interactions between them and could read she had explained she "couldn't understand bigger words".
The court was told the victim and two of his friends were heading south through QEII Square just before 5pm.
As they got close to Dean Street, two women and a man walked towards them.
The victim nearly collided with one of the women, who was pushing a trolley. He apologised.
She asked the victim to come over to her, but at the same time Haigh approached them and said: "You don't know who you are messing with."
The victim rode off towards Dean Street with his friends.
When he turned on to Kiewa Street he looked back to see Haigh chasing him.
The boy was scared and crossed Kiewa Street to get away, then fell off his scooter, landed on his hands and hurt his wrist.
Haigh took the scooter, the boy demanded it back and then after she produced the scissors and threatened "I'll stab you", he fled.
Mr Funston placed Haigh on a 12-month community corrections order.
