A teenager who killed a grandmother and triggered landmark youth justice laws has lost an appeal over his 16-year sentence.
The boy was 16-years-old when he fatally stabbed Vyleen White in a carjacking outside a shopping centre west of Brisbane in February 2024, sparking state-wide outrage.
The crime was the catalyst for controversial “adult crime, adult time” laws, ensuring juveniles face at least 20 years in custody for serious offences like murder.
However, they were not retroactive and the boy was sentenced under the state’s previous laws, receiving a 16-year jail term.
The teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appealed claiming his jail term was excessive for a non-premeditated murder and that the sentencing judge had made an error.
WA’s biggest courts and crime stories to your inbox
Sign-up to our weekly newsletter for free
Sign up
The boy received the highest sentence ever handed down in Queensland to a 16-year-old for a single stable murder, defence barrister Matthew Hynes told the Court of Appeal justices in March.
“This is a case where there is a single stab with fleeting attention,” he said.
However the court dismissed the appeal, rejecting the arguments.
An advocate said outside court in March that the boy’s appeal was an insult to Ms White’s traumatised family and there would be community outrage if the original sentence was not upheld.
“A precedent needed to be set and this was the right precedent to be set,” Victims 1st ambassador Lyndy Atkinson said.
The teen pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced in November 2025.
He is likely to be released from custody in late 2033, about the time of his 26th birthday, after 60 per cent of his sentence is completed with time already served.
