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A 12-year-old Aboriginal boy appeared in a Western Australian court on Monday charged with receiving a stolen chocolate frog worth about 70 cents (65 US cents), reports said.
The boy, who cannot be identified, briefly faced Northam Children's Court on charges of receiving the chocolate 'Freddo', allegedly shoplifted by a friend, and a small, inexpensive novelty sign reading 'Do not enter, genius at work'.
The boy's Aboriginal Legal Service lawyer Peter Collins said it was scandalous that a young child could face such charges.
"The fact of the matter is he's 12, and these are the most trivial charges imaginable, and it can hardly be a justification for this kid to be brushed up against the courts to teach him a bit of a lesson," he told local media.
"It's hard not to imagine that if this had happened to a non-Aboriginal kid from an affluent Perth suburb with professional parents that we wouldn't be in this situation.
"We're strongly of the view that Aboriginal kids in Western Australia are chronically over-policed," he told state broadcaster the ABC.
Indigenous Aborigines are the nation's most disadvantaged group, have a shorter life expectancy than other Australians and are over-represented in prisons.
The boy, who is expected to plead not guilty to the charges, is due to appear in court again in February.
Outside the court, police said charges had only been laid as a last resort and with the child's best interests in mind.
"It's not about the value, it's about stopping children from offending," Acting Superintendent Peter Halliday told reporters.
