The financial collapse in 2008 unfolded as Americans voted in record numbers, Links of London Charms Barack Obama as the first African-American president. Did the US decide that a black man would be a better steward of its blood and treasure? Maybe not. It seemed race just mattered less to most Americans than a desire for change. And after a decade like that, who can blame them? A teenager who removed the batteries from a smoke alarm before tying up a girl and setting her northern NSW home on fire has won a cut in his sentence. The then 15-year-old, who cannot be named, originally was charged with the attempted murder of the 14-year-old girl, who managed to free herself and flee the burning Links of London I Charm. But the crown accepted his guilty plea to the lesser charge of maliciously damaging property at Tamworth with intent to endanger the girl's life in August 2007. During her ordeal, she was assaulted, gagged and had a plastic bag placed over her head. In the NSW District Court last year, the teenager was sentenced to a minimum of six years in custody and a maximum of 12 years. On Wednesday, the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal upheld his challenge and reduced the minimum term to five years, but retained the maximum sentence. Justices Peter McClellan, Terence Buddin and Peter Hall concluded the sentencing judge failed to adequately take into account the teenager's mental health condition and matters related to his substance abuse. Justice Hall noted a recent psychiatric report confirmed that the youth has suffered from a severe schizophrenic condition for several years. "In this case, the applicant's drug taking and mental condition were, on the evidence, inter-related Links of London M Charm," he said. The teenagers went out for a short time, but broke up before the offence occurred when her mother was in hospital. The girl woke in the early hours to find him standing in the doorway of her bedroom, the sentencing judge said. At one stage, the teenager produced a knife saying: "Oh, I could have used this but I didn't." He then removed the smoke alarm from the ceiling and extracted the batteries. He used an electrical cord to tie her legs and a cable to tie her hands. As she struggled, she fell and hit her head on a television cabinet. After she was able to spit out a sock and some tissue paper he had put in her mouth, he tied a shirt around her face and put a plastic bag over her head. He put her on the bed, covered her with bedcovers, left the room and returned a few minutes Links of London O Charm. "She heard splashing noises elsewhere in the house and could smell petrol fumes," the judge said.
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