A 16-year-old Renton youth will spend about 5 1/2 years in a state prison facility for an attack at the Renton Transit Center May 5 that left a man with severe injuries.

Before his sentence was handed down, Solinuu Leaa told King County Superior Court Judge Barbara Mack that he “didn’t mean to mess up.”

But in sentencing Leae to the maximum sentence, Mack told the teen he may think his action was a mistake, but he made a decision to assault the victim.

“This assault was completely unprovoked,” she said.

Earlier, Leae’s father Solinuu Leae told Mack he wished the surveillance video that captured the assault at the transit center had audio. He maintained the victim called his son a “bitch” before the assault.

The 68 months is maximum allowed for felony convictions for first-degree robbery and second-degree assault. Leae had pleaded guilty to the charges earlier this month.

Leae’s father asked Mack to sentence his son to the minimum term, 51 months, saying “he’s a good boy.”

Just months before the May 5 assault, Leae was released from the Echo Glen juvenile facility after serving a sentence for assaulting a Metro bus driver near Foster High School in Tukwila.

Leae was initially charged in Juvenile Court, but he stipulated to the state’s request to have him prosecuted in adult court, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.

Leae’s brother Troy Leae and another defendant, Francisco Rondon of Kent,  are charged with first-degree robbery for their alleged role in the May 5 attack on the 36-year-old man who suffered a broken arm and broken jaw.

Solinuu Leae is not to have contact with either Rondon or the victim and can only have supervised visits with his older brother Troy.