{"id":375005,"date":"2025-11-13T03:08:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T03:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/375005\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T03:08:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T03:08:14","slug":"teenager-sentenced-to-16-years-behind-bars-for-murder-of-grandmother-vyleen-white-at-ipswich-shopping-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/375005\/","title":{"rendered":"Teenager sentenced to 16 years behind bars for murder of grandmother Vyleen White at Ipswich shopping centre"},"content":{"rendered":"

The teenager who murdered 70-year-old Ipswich woman Vyleen White last year has been sentenced to 16 years behind bars.<\/p>\n

Ms White was fatally stabbed in the chest by a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, shortly after she parked at a Redbank Plains shopping centre in February 2024.<\/p>\n

Following the attack, which was witnessed by Ms White’s young granddaughter, the teenager stole her car and fled the area.<\/p>\n

The now 17-year-old, who pleaded guilty to her murder and other charges earlier this year, faced a sentencing hearing in the Supreme Court in Brisbane yesterday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Loading…Killing ‘particularly heinous’<\/p>\n

Submissions were made by prosecutors and his lawyers about what penalty the teenager should receive, taking into consideration Queensland’s previous youth justice legislation in place at the time.<\/p>\n

Both legal parties agreed the killing should be found to be particularly heinous, which would allow for a sentence higher than the previous maximum of 10 years.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Ms White’s killer was sentenced on Thursday in the Supreme Court in Brisbane. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Chief Justice Helen Bowskill made that finding, and also found the teenager had special circumstances, including his youth, early guilty plea and prospects of rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

Because of this, she reduced the amount of time he must serve in custody from the maximum of 70 per cent of his sentence, down to 60 per cent.<\/p>\n

With time already served, the teenager will be released in 2033.<\/p>\n

Loading…Family continues to grapple with ‘horror’ of murder<\/p>\n

Speaking outside court after the sentence was handed down, one of Ms White’s daughter’s, Cindy Micallef, said the family continued to grapple with imagining the “horror” of her mother’s last moments.<\/p>\n

She described Ms White as the family’s “foundation”.<\/p>\n

“We’re haunted by her last thoughts, her last moments,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Micallef said the family’s lives would forever be “upturned” by Ms White’s murder, and she worried about the impact on her young granddaughter who had witnessed the stabbing.<\/p>\n

“You can see the deep sadness behind her eyes,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cindy Micallef sits in front of a photograph of her mother Vyleen White. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Ms Micallef said the family had been both shattered and fractured by the murder, and she was “gutted” by the sentence, although acknowledged the chief justice was restricted by the laws.<\/p>\n

“We’re trying to do the best we can, but everyone’s lives have been shattered,” she told reporters outside court.<\/p>\n

Ms White’s family had been advocating for the roll-out of the Crisafulli government’s adult crime, adult time laws, and Ms Micallef said she would like to see similar imposed in other jurisdictions around the country.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Ms White was fatally stabbed at a shopping centre, south of Brisbane. (ABC News: Victoria Pengilley)<\/p>\n

Premier says sentence ‘not acceptable’<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Premier David Crisafulli said no sentence would ever be enough for Ms White’s family, who he said he felt very close to.<\/p>\n

“It’s not acceptable and nothing ever will be for them, and justifiably, they lost everything in that moment,” he told reporters in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

Mr Crisafulli said that under the state’s adult crime, adult time laws, which were brought in after Ms White’s death, a mandatory life sentence would be imposed for juvenile offenders convicted of murder.<\/p>\n

“And long may that continue,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The teenager who murdered 70-year-old Ipswich woman Vyleen White last year has been sentenced to 16 years behind…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":375006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,10934,4446,25911,37156,9620,50,56002,4797,4798,131107,278,180470],"class_list":{"0":"post-375005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-brisbane","10":"tag-death","11":"tag-defence","12":"tag-grandmother","13":"tag-murder","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-prosecutors","16":"tag-qld","17":"tag-queensland","18":"tag-stab","19":"tag-supreme-court","20":"tag-vyleen-white"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115540191991188386","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}