A teenager who allegedly gatecrashed a birthday party in Sydney's north and threw a metal pole that embedded in the skull of a 17-year-old has been refused bail.
Dressed in a white T-shirt, brown pants and thongs, the 16-year-old from Ryde appeared in Bidura Children's Court at Glebe on Wednesday, having handed himself into police on Tuesday night.
The boy is facing eight charges, including recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, affray and breach of bail.
Outside court, the accused's mother lashed out at waiting media, insisting her son had done nothing wrong.
The charges relate to events at an 18th birthday party at Forestville on Friday night that left a youth in a critical condition in Royal North Shore Hospital.
Police allege that the accused was refused entry to the party, which had been advertised on Facebook.
The teen then allegedly assaulted the father of the boy hosting the party and another person before climbing on the roof of the house.
The court heard the teen allegedly tossed building materials down into the crowd below, including a metal rod that he threw in a "javelin motion" that struck the 17-year-old.
The teenager is also accused of attacking another teen as he ran from the scene.
The court on Wednesday heard that the boy's cousin had identified him as the one responsible for the attacks.
In his bail application, the accused's lawyer, Gregory Stanton, said his client may have been "fingered" by others who had crashed the party and who were possibly involved in the attack.
He said the boy's cousin was not at the party and there was no independent witnesses in the police case currently before the court who had identified the accused.
Magistrate Elizabeth Ellis said there was a "real question mark" over whether the teen was the one who had thrown the rod.
But she denied him bail, saying he had a history of failing to appear in court and was already on strict bail conditions for an unrelated crime at the time of the latest offence.
As the boy's family left the court, his mother said police had charged the wrong person over the attack.
"He has not done anything wrong," she said. "It's not my son [who] did it."
The matter was adjourned until February 26.
