Pregnant teen jailed for Olympian attack

3 Aug 2012, 1:59 pm   -   Source: AAP
A teen who went on a violent robbing spree in Melbourne has been sentenced to three years detention. (AAP)

A teen who went on a violent robbing spree in Melbourne has been sentenced to three years detention. (AAP)

A pregnant Melbourne teenager who bashed Olympic basketballer Rachel Jarry will spend three years in a youth justice centre.

A teenager who robbed and bashed Olympic basketballer Rachel Jarry during a rampage in Melbourne's CBD will give birth behind bars after being sentenced to three years in a youth justice centre.

Jessica Croucher, 18, stood with her arms folded as she was told by Victorian County Court Judge David Parsons on Friday that she would spend the next three years in custody.

Croucher, who is five months pregnant, pleaded guilty to several charges including robbery and intentionally causing serious injury in the 90-minute rampage during which six victims, including Ms Jarry and her friend Megan Hustwaite, were terrorised.

The pair were walking to their car in the early hours of January 8 when they were robbed and bashed by Croucher and another four teenagers, who cannot be identified.

Judge Parsons said random acts of violence directed towards innocent citizens going about their business were to be utterly condemned, regardless of an offender's age.

He said the victims would continue to be affected by the attacks for a very long time.

"I speak not just of the physical effects of what you did but, more importantly and significantly, of the emotional trauma," he said.

"The victims will each have to live with the fear and apprehension that you engendered.

"No doubt when they conduct themselves around Melbourne it will always be lurking in the back of their minds."

Ms Jarry, an Australian Opals basketball player who made her Olympic debut this week, was curled up in the fetal position when she was punched in the face and kicked in the stomach, ribs and back during the attack.

The gang then set upon a group of three men, beating them and leaving one with broken teeth and a fractured nose.

A sixth victim required emergency surgery after he was stabbed by Croucher with a box cutter, leaving him with two wounds to his arm that exposed tendon and muscle.

Outside court, Ms Hustwaite, who suffered a broken nose in the attack, said the sentence had given her and the other victims a sense of relief.

But the attack would always be in the back of her mind, she said.

"(It was) unbelievably traumatic, something that obviously myself and all the others won't forget," she said.

The court previously heard Croucher would not be able to keep her baby with her in youth justice due to the lack of facilities.

If Croucher wants to keep her baby with her, she will need to be transferred to an adult prison.

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