A teenager who was "hooning" around a small WA town on an unroadworthy motorcycle when he hit and killed a local woman has been sentenced to eight months in juvenile detention.
The youth cannot be identified because he was only 14 years old when, in December 2022, he hit 53-year-old Kyla Jones in Lancelin, about 130 kilometres north of Perth.
On Tuesday, Perth Children's Court was told Ms Jones and her husband had heard the sound of motorcycles doing laps near her home at about 9pm, so she decided to go outside to try to get the riders to slow down.
As her husband told her not to worry because he was going to call the police, the youth, who was with two other teenage motorcycle riders, ran into Ms Jones as she stood on the road waving her arms.
No lights and no licence
State prosecutor Tiffany McArthur said the youth had never held a driver's licence and his motorbike was unlicensed and not roadworthy.
The court heard he had no light attached to the motorbike and it was estimated that just before he hit Ms Jones he was travelling at speeds of about 80 kilometres an hour, which was 30kph above the speed limit.
During an emotional hearing, Ms Jones's sister read a victim impact statement to the court in which she described the 53-year-old as "super loving, kind, stylish and creative".
She said there was no excuse for what the teenager had done, telling the court her family had been given "a life sentence of pain on a wound that will never heal".
Teen suffered brain injury
The youth was initially charged with manslaughter, but earlier this year prosecutors accepted his guilty plea to the lesser offence of dangerous driving occasioning death.
The youth's lawyer, Mark Andrews, said motorbikes had been his client's passion from a very young age and he described him as "very experienced" at trail bike riding.
He said on the night of the tragedy, the youth and his friends went riding in the sand dunes before deciding to go into town.
Mr Andrews said the street lighting in the area was very poor and the youth had not appreciated the speed at which he was travelling.
The court was told the teenager was seriously injured when he hit Ms Jones and spent two weeks in hospital, including time in the intensive care unit.
Mr Andrews said the boy suffered an acquired brain injury, which meant he had no recollection of the events.
But he said he had since reflected on his actions and he was genuinely remorseful.
The teenager has since written a letter of apology to Ms Jones's family which he now hopes will be shown to them.
Children's Court president Hylton Quail accepted the youth had never been in trouble before but said the now-16-year-old should not have been out riding around that night, let alone on the roads.
Judge Quail said it was obvious the noise of the speeding motorbikes prompted Ms Jones to go outside, and she was hit as she tried to get the riders to slow down or stop.
"The truth of it was you were hooning around Lancelin," he said.
"I'm satisfied you did know what you were doing was wrong."
The judge accepted that the boy was genuinely sorry for his actions, but he ruled the offence was so serious only an immediate term of juvenile detention was appropriate.
The teenager was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment with an order he serve half the term before being eligible for supervised release.
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