A pair of teenagers who carried out a series of shop raids costing Dundee businesses more than £9000 have been spared jail due to their age.
The boys, who were 15 at the time of the offences and are still too young for their names to be released, were told by Sheriff Brown they would have been sentenced to two years in prison had they been adults.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard the pair stole goods worth a total of £3,888 and caused £5,200 worth of damage to commercial premises during a day of mayhem, on September 29 2017.
They smashed a window and tried to break into a Spar store on Glamis Road, forced open a metal shutter and tried to break into the Tandoori Hut on Craigowan Road, and attempted to force open a metal roller shutter at Dino’s on Brownhill Road, with the intent to steal.
The pair broke into Brownhill News Costcutters on Brownhill Road and Charleston Supermarket on Craigmount Road, stealing alcohol including bottles of vodka, rum, whisky and gin and 100 packets of cigarettes from both premises.
The following month, on October 8, the duo broke into commercial premises owned by Paperchase Wholesale at West Gourdie Industrial Estate on two occasions, stealing a quantity of smoking paraphernalia, e-cigarettes, cash, BB toy guns and e-cigarette accessories.
The last of seven charges stated the boys broke into Tesco on South Road and stole a cash drawer containing money, as well as a quantity of electrical items.
The thefts, which often took place in the early hours of the morning, were caught on CCTV and police found a number of items at the addresses of both boys.
Solicitor Jim Laverty, representing one of the youths told the sheriff his client had been “out of his depth”.
Addressing the boy, Sheriff Brown said: “If you were an adult when you committed these crimes you would have gone to Perth Prison for two years.”
Instead, the teenager was given a community payback order with 200 hours of unpaid work to be completed within six months and a supervision requirement of one year.
The other boy’s sentencing was deferred until February 1 for an assessment of his suitability to join a Venture Trust community rehabilitation programme.
