A YOUNG man has admitted to being a member of a crew of teenage thieves who carjacked a local court magistrate in Newcastle last year.
Tristan Dobson, now 19, of Blackalls Park, appeared in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday via audio visual link from jail where he pleaded guilty to a number of charges, including robbery in company relating to carjacking the respected magistrate of his Audi sedan on May 2 last year.
The thieves used stolen cars to box in the magistrate's Audi, threatened him and ordered him out before taking off with his car about 6am.
The carjacking was random and the magistrate was not targeted because of his profession.
Dobson also pleaded guilty to a number of other charges including multiple counts of aggravated break and enter and stealing cars and will next appear in Newcastle District Court next month to get a sentence date.
Dobson was one of four teenagers - and the only adult - who were charged a few weeks after the carjacking when police were called about four vehicles being driven dangerously in the Lake Macquarie area.
Police attempted to stop the four vehicles - a BMW SUV, a Ford Ranger utility, a Suzuki Swift and a motorcycle - on Wangi Road at Dora Creek but they took off, triggering a pursuit.
The two teenagers in the Ford were arrested when the vehicle lost control on Anzac Parade and crashed into another car, while the two teenagers in the Swift were nabbed when police successfully deployed road spikes on Five Islands Road at Speers Point.
The BMW was later found abandoned at Gateshead.
Dobson and the other teenagers, aged 17, 14 and 15, were all charged and refused bail.
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