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A group of teens who beat a Sunshine Coast store owner before and after he fell to the ground were not sentenced harshly enough, the state government said as it launched an appeal over the case.
The owner of an IGA store at Dicky Beach was set upon by the group last August, Acting Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said in a statement on Wednesday.
Store owner Shane Kensett told Nine at the time he had caught one of the boys trying to steal a pair of scissors, so he kicked him out.
Kensett said the group, aged between 14 and 17, later returned when he was out the front of the store and attacked him.
He suffered a concussion, fractured nose, lacerations and bruising.
On Wednesday, Bleijie said he had called on the director of public prosecutions to lodge appeals on all four sentences, “because I consider them to be manifestly inadequate”.
“In my view, [the sentences] do not reflect the seriousness of the offending, the impact on the victim, or meet community expectations,” he said.
Bleijie said the group had continued to kick and punch Kensett after he was beaten to the ground.
Footage of the attack, captured on the store’s CCTV cameras, showed Kensett surrounded by the group, while staff trapped inside the store were forced to lock the doors.
In August, police charged six teenagers for offences including assault and attempts to maim.
The Maroochydore Children’s Court handed down four sentences.
Two of the teenagers were given six-month sentences, which were wholly suspended, while the other two were handed 18 months’ probation and 60 hours of community service.
The appeals were signed and lodged on Wednesday.
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