The magistrate said the child had little or no respect for the law, the rights of others or his legal obligations. He said probation orders in the past had no effect on the youth's conduct and that was likely to continue.

However, the magistrate said there seemed to be a gap in services available for young teenagers with intellectual disabilities.

He said it was only possible for services to offer so much supervision and case workers could not physically constrain or restrain a child. The magistrate said the child would not do what he was asked and that's all case workers could do ? make requests.

A court heard the youth, who cannot be named, had applied for bail, had an IQ of 60 and regularly absconded from 24-hour care.

A Warrnambool police detective outlined the case against the youth which involved a statement from a co-accused and an alleged admission the youth made to another person.

"He's a constant runaway from DHS (Department of Humans Services)," the detective said.

"He's a ward of the state. Case workers have sought safe custody orders in the past and were in the process of doing that again when the youth was arrested yesterday morning after running away from home. DHS can't control him, he wasn't at his home for two days and they're at their wits' end," he said.

The youth does not attend school although he is considered extremely street-wise by solicitors and police officers .

The magistrate decided to release the youth on bail due to his age, the likely delay in the case being heard, the strength of the evidence and the youth's intellectually disability.

"I have the gravest fears for (the youth's) future and grave doubts about his ability to refrain from breaching the terms of the bail," he said. "(But) I'm not prepared to remand him indefinitely."