Scots College student Ethan Ungerboeck’s sickening attacks on a troubled teenage girl exposed – after he was allowed to walk free AGAIN

A pot-smoking ex-private schoolboy who met a troubled teen online repeatedly bit the girl on the neck and burnt her with a lit cigarette as part of a ‘sobriety’ pact.

Details of what a magistrate called a ‘very, very bizarre’ series of attacks Ethan Ungerboeck committed on the 16-year-old can now be revealed with the release of a seven-page statement of facts. 

After one incident in which he sank his teeth into the girl’s neck Ungerboeck ‘giggled excessively’ once he eventually released his grip. 

Ungerboeck escaped conviction for the assaults last Friday, having cited his poor mental health and cannabis use when he faced Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court. 

The 20-year-old was charged in October last year with three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm and one count of common assault. 

Ungerboeck, who previously admitted to threatening to kill and mutilate another girlfriend if she cheated on him, still has no criminal record.

In the earlier case, he had pleaded guilty to stalking and intimidating a woman with violent texts threatening to ‘crush her spine’, dissect her feet and suspend her from hooks.

Ungerboeck was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) when he was eight and bullied at Sydney’s $54,000-a-year Scots College. 

According to a statement of facts tendered in court, Ungerboeck met a 16-year-old girl in June last year while they were playing the online video game Fortnite.

‘In their early conversations the victim told the accused she had issues with self-harm,’ the statement said. ‘The accused appeared to be knowledgeable about the subject.’

Ungerboeck also told the girl he was being investigated by the Australian Federal Police. That investigation later resulted in Ungerboeck being charged with 17 offences related to the alleged production, distribution and possession of child abuse material.

About midnight on one occasion in June last year Ungerboeck and the girl were at the $6million home he shares with his parents at Maroubra in Sydney’s east.

Both were sitting on Ungerboeck’s bed watching YouTube videos on his laptop and he was intoxicated after smoking cannabis.

‘Suddenly, without any warning the accused opened his mouth and gripped the right side of the victim’s neck with his teeth,’ the statement of facts said.

The girl felt immediate pain and asked what Ungerboeck was doing but he kept his teeth gripped on her neck for one or two seconds.

‘Eventually the accused released the victim’s neck from his teeth,’ the statement of facts said. ‘The accused then giggled excessively.’ 

The next day while the pair watched YouTube videos in his bedroom, Ungerboeck – who had again been smoking pot – opened his mouth and sank his teeth into the girl’s wrist.

‘The accused’s top teeth were pressing tightly against the outside of the victim’s wrist, while the accused’s bottom teeth were pressing tightly against the inside of the victim’s wrist,’ the statement of facts said.

The girl told Ungerboeck he was causing her pain and when he finally released his grip she had multiple red marks on her wrist.

‘The victim felt scared and confused and did not know what to do,’ the statement of facts said. 

About two weeks later, Ungerboeck and the girl went to South Coogee about midnight. They walked down a steep set of stairs and found a small cave where they set up a tent.

The pair watched the ocean through a window while Ungerboeck drank two cans of beer.

‘Suddenly, without any warning the accused opened his mouth and gripped the left side of the victim’s neck with his teeth,’ the statement of facts said.

‘The accused’s teeth remained latched on the victim’s neck, as he was slowly and deliberately tightening his grip.’

The bite left multiple marks and the girl’s neck throbbed for two hours before she fell asleep. She woke about 5am and was numb down the left side of her face for the next two weeks.

Within days of the last bite attack Ungerboeck and the girl set out for Newcastle to visit his godmother on a road trip. They stopped at a rest area near Mooney Mooney on the Central Coast and stayed overnight after doing some fishing.

The next afternoon Ungerboeck was smoking while he and the girl discussed giving up their respective addictions.

‘The pair decided that the accused would stop smoking while the victim would stop self-harm,’ the statement of facts said. 

‘The accused suggested they formalise this by making a mark of sobriety. The accused decided that his mark of sobriety was to be left on the victim’s wrist by burning it with a lit cigarette.’

One or two days later, a blister had formed where Ungerboeck had burnt the girl’s wrist. Ungerboeck insisted on popping the blister with a knife and the wound became infected.

According to the statement of facts, the girl became increasingly fearful and traumatised by Ungerboeck’s behaviour but kept it secret.

Several days after the blister incident the girl broke down and told her friends about the attacks. They advised her to end the relationship with Ungerboeck, which she did.

The girl had suffered ‘severe physical and psychological trauma’ and reported Ungerboeck to police. 

‘Police asked the victim as to her reasons for remaining in the relationship with the accused despite the violence and abuse she was subjected to,’ the statement of facts said. 

‘The victim advised that she did this due to an emotional bond she has already formed with the accused, where her battles with self-harm played a significant role.’ 

Ungerboeck admitted the four assaults but managed to have them dealt with under Section 14 of the Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act.

Solicitor Michael Bowe said his client was a ‘reasonably young man’ with a well-documented history of mental illness, whose problems were made worse at Scots College.

Ungerboeck had been bullied so badly at the Bellevue Hill school he avoided other boys in the grounds during breaks and instead hid in the library.

He had not coped well with the Covid pandemic, and his depression culminated in a suicide attempt.

Until recently, Ungerboeck had not been taking his prescribed medication and was a heavy user of cannabis. He had been diagnosed with ADHD, oppositional defiance disorder (ODD) and depression.

‘He’s got a very big brain and a very complex brain,’ Mr Bowe said.

‘As he’s matured, life has just become more difficult.’

Of the assaults on the girl, Mr Bowe said Ungerboeck’s offending had been ‘serious’ but ‘very strange’ and that he did not understand why it occurred.

‘Young Mr Ungerboeck clearly took it too far,’ Mr Bowe said.

‘How and why a mind kind of works in the way that it does is difficult to understand.’

Magistrate Ann Lambino accepted Ungerboeck’s various diagnoses and said it was appropriate to deal with the charges under the mental health provisions of the law.

She said it appeared Ungerboeck’s victim also had ‘significant mental health issues’ which might have led to a ‘mutual understanding’ between the pair.

Ms Lambino was not satisfied Ungerboeck’s actions had been premeditated or that he intended to harm the woman.

‘The facts are very, very bizarre,’ she said.

Ms Lambino dismissed the charges and ordered Ungerboeck to comply with a treatment plan, including psychiatric appointments and medication for 12 months. 

The earlier stalking and intimidation charge was dismissed on February 9 due to Ungerboeck’s ADHD, ODD, depression and youth.

Ungerboeck’s child exploitation material charges will return to Downing Centre Local Court later this month.