THE two 14-year-olds who caused $100,000 damage and thousands of dollars in lost revenue when they burnt down the Autumn Nails salon in Warrnambool during February have walked free from court.
The youths, who cannot be named because they are aged under 18 years old, yesterday pleaded guilty to burglary and arson.
They were not convicted and placed on 12-month youth supervision orders.
A magistrate said the younger of the offenders had an intellectual disability and therefore posed a difficult sentencing proposition.
He said he would allow the child to remain in the community and under the most intensive supervision possible.
The magistrate said that was the best option to reduce reoffending. The youth also pleaded guilty to five sets of police charges yesterday involving assault, damage and burglary and he's already spent 35 days in youth custody after breaching bail conditions.
The magistrate said he was not prepared to adjourn sentencing and would place the responsibility on the youth's shoulders. He warned that any further offending would likely end in a term of youth detention.
The youth said he realised the charges were pretty serious, described his offending as stupid and he realised the fire had a lot of impact on his victims.
The slightly older youth, who is now 15 years old, said being involved in burglary and the damage to the salon had been a bad thing to do, the salon operators were put out of business and it had been tragic for the victims financially.
The court heard that about 11.30pm on February 26 the youths had been in the Warrnambool central business district and conspired to break into the Koroit Street salon to steal cash.
They entered the arcade shop through an unlocked rear window and when they couldn't find money ransacked the shop, damaging fittings.
They wrote offensive language on the walls in texta and spread around flammable nail polish and nail-polish remover before one of the accused found a lighter and the premises were set on fire.
Police were unable to say who actually lit the fire, but alleged the co-accused acted together.
A passing motorists raised the alarm and the blaze was quickly brought under control by firefighters which saved nearby businesses and the arcade, but the nail salon was completely destroyed, resulting in a damage bill of more than $100,000.
Three specialised salon chairs were valued at $10,000 each.
The two youths were spoken to in the CBD by police after the fire was lit but it wasn't until Warrnambool police received further information from a member of the public that arrests were made in March.
In June, sisters Tracey and Cindy Le reopened their Autumn Nails salon in the Glasshouse Plaza. They lost thousands of dollars through lost trade and were not insured.
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