A now 18-year old has been sentenced for crimes he committed as a youth, including a "vicious attack" when he stabbed a detention centre worker in the neck with a shiv.
The young man, who appeared via video link from prison, was sentenced in the Supreme Court in Launceston on Friday, August 21, 2026.
He previously pleaded guilty to charges including committing an unlawful act intended to cause bodily harm, aiding escape from lawful custody and aggravated assault.
During a previous court appearance in mid-August, Crown prosecutor Amit Sharma said the young man was one of the main instigators of the escape from the Ashley Youth Detention Centre (AYDC) on December 18, 2025.
Mr Sharma said the offender had been just under 18 at the time the crimes were committed.
Before sentencing the young man, Justice Robert Pearce recounted the attacks on AYDC workers and the escape of several youths that led to a statewide search.
The then-youth and a co-offender, another AYDC detainee who was also sentenced in the Supreme Court, were in a communal area while a staff member was in the kitchenette making drinks, Justice Pearce said.
The staff member was wearing a set of detention centre keys on a lanyard around his neck.
The court heard that as the staff member went to push open the kitchenette door, the co-offender pushed him backwards and withdrew a handmade shiv from his trousers.
The judge said the shiv had been made from a whiteboard marker. The felt tip was removed and replaced with a sharp threaded screw protruding from the tip.
"You picked up the shiv and stabbed [the worker] to the back of his neck, near his carotid artery and two further times to his back," Justice Pearce said.
"It was a vicious attack ... the consequences could have been catastrophic."
Another staff member saw what was happening, but Justice Pearce said the offender forcibly pushed her away.
The staff member tried to stop the accused from hitting her colleague with a glass microwave plate, but pleaded with the offender not to hurt her when he looked like he would strike her with it.
He then punched her in the face, the court heard.
Justice Pearce said as the co-offender held the worker with the keys in a headlock, the offender repeatedly punched him in the stomach before hitting the back of his head with the glass plate.
The worker was dragged back when he tried to escape the kitchenette, and the offender punched him five times in the face.
Mr Sharma told the court in August that the worker was taken to the LGH for his injuries, but that the psychological impact was the most severe.
Justice Pearce said the worker was "highly traumatised" as a result of the attack on him.
"He is anxious and fearful, has nightmares, has been unable to pursue study he planned and has moved to another state," the judge said.
The then-youth was eventually successful in taking the worker's keys from his lanyard, which he and his co-offender used to escape the kitchenette, the court heard.
The two teenagers then unlocked the cells of other youths, Justice Pearce said, who joined them in "engaging in riotous behaviour," armed themselves with fire extinguishers, and caused damage to property.
While the accused was releasing detainees from their cells, another staff member tried to negotiate with him to stop.
"She was trying to reason with you. You responded by punching her," Justice Pearce said.
Using the keys to get to the staff-only areas, the offender stole a set of Subaru keys before escaping the detention centre by kicking out the panel of the front door.
The offender and six other youths drove away in the vehicle, which was later found at Penguin on Tasmania's North-West coast.
The next day on December 19, the offender attended the Glenorchy police station, telling police officers of the escape and providing them with keys to a different stolen vehicle, a Volkswagen.
Offender given three years' jail
Justice Pearce said he took into account the offender's pleas of guilty, and that he came from circumstances of "considerable deprivation and neglect".
"You were a victim of your father's violence and witnessed violence in the family home," the judge said.
"From an early stage, you became entrenched in alcohol and drug abuse and a criminal lifestyle. Nevertheless, you have refused to engage with any of the services in the community which might have been available to you."
Justice Pearce said he would sentence the offender under the Sentencing Act, rather than the Youth Justice Act.
The young man was given a three-year jail term, which the judge said would start "on the latest of the earliest release dates for terms of detention currently being served".
Justice Pearce ordered the offender not be eligible for parole until he had served half of the three years.