A teenage boy who sexually assaulted a jogger in Canberra’s north has been jailed for more than six years.
Warning: This story contains details some readers may find distressing.
The woman, aged 60, was running down Oak Hill on the Centenary Trail in Bonner just after 10am on May 26 last year, when the then-15-year-old grabbed her from behind.
The boy strangled the woman, causing her to pass out briefly.
When she regained consciousness, she was able to break free and scream, but the teenager grabbed her legs and pulled her back — striking her in the head several times and saying "shush, just shush".
He then pulled her head back with such force that she thought he was going to break her neck.
The boy indecently assaulted her before she was able to push him off. He took her phone and ran away.
The woman got up and ran until she found another woman, who called triple zero.
Police found the boy a short time later, and he was arrested.
'I was in so much fear'
The woman told the ACT Supreme Court the incident turned her world "upside down".
"I truly felt that I was going to die on that hill that day,"
she said.
"I was in so much fear that I could not feel the physical pain of what was happening to me."
At the time of the attack, the boy was on bail for sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl he met while she was out with friends a few months earlier.
He offered to go with the girl to buy alcohol and told her he knew a shortcut to a nearby bottle shop, but he instead led her into a park.
There he forced himself on her, despite her repeated protests and attempts to push him away.
In a victim impact statement, the girl said she was "still suffering with the haunting thoughts held from the event".
"I miss being able to leave the house freely and live in the moment without fear," she told the court.
The boy pleaded guilty to charges including sexual assault in the third degree; committing acts of indecency, choking, strangling or suffocating another person and theft.
Judge commends victims' courage
In sentencing, Justice Louise Taylor noted the boy — now 17 — has a severe neurodevelopmental disorder and had had a difficult childhood but said ultimately, he knew what he was doing was wrong.
"The offending was brazen,"
Justice Taylor said.
"He could only have known that in each case the victim was not consenting."
The woman was jogging down Oak Hill on the Centenary Trail in Bonner. (ABC News: Luke Stephenson)
Justice Taylor was satisfied the boy was remorseful and ashamed of his offending, and had made positive changes during his time in custody.
And while she said his inevitable return to the community meant rehabilitation was critical, she acknowledged his sentence had to reflect the "irrevocable harm" suffered by the victims and the impact of sexual violence has on the community — predominantly women and girls.
"The insidious harm caused by sexual violence does not discriminate,"
Justice Taylor said
"The hope that both victims had, for their perhaps quite different futures, has been shattered.
"I commend their courage and hope for their healing"
The boy was sentenced to serve six years and six months' imprisonment, including time already served, at Bimberi Youth Justice Centre.
That sentence is to be suspended from May 2028 on entering into a good behaviour order and accepting supervision conditions.