adolescent – Michmutters
Categories
Australia

Teenager sentenced to 10 years in prison over fatal stabbing of Jack Beasley on Gold Coast

A 17-year-old boy who fatally stabbed a teenager at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast more than two years ago has been sentenced to 10 years in jail but will only spend seven years in custody.

Jack Beasley died after being stabbed once in the chest in December 2019.

Five teenage boys, aged between 15 and 18 at the time, were originally charged over the 17-year-old’s death, but three were acquitted of his manslaughter at a judge-only trial last month.

The remaining two, including a 17-year-old boy, faced a sentencing hearing in Brisbane on Friday after he pleaded guilty to murder earlier this year, admitting to inflicting the fatal wound.

A 20-year-old man pleaded guilty to his manslaughter, accepting he had a common purpose to assault Mr Beasley and his friends, and that an unlawful killing would be a “probable consequence.”

The pair – who cannot be named due to youth justice laws – have also pleaded guilty to two counts each of grievous bodily harm in relation to the stabbing of one of Mr Beasley’s friends, who was seriously injured.

Knife used in ‘senseless’ way amid brawl

During a sentencing hearing on Friday, the court heard the group of teens had crossed paths with Mr Beasley and his friends, who were not known to them, and they had hatched a plan to chase them and pick a fight.

Crown Prosecutor Todd Fuller told the court the older offender took “a lead role” and was one of the “main protagonists” who “instigated the violence” with Mr Beasley.

“He was actively involved in the altercation from the start to finish,” he said.

Police tape and officers at scene of a fatal stabbing on Surfers Paradise Boulevard.
Police at the scene on Surfers Paradise Boulevard where Mr Beasley died in 2019.(abcnews)

The court heard a physical fight then broke out between some members of the two groups, including Mr Beasley.

Mr Fuller told the court the younger teen then “escalated the level of violence” by using the knife “offensively rather than defensively” and in a “senseless” way.

“The grave nature of his offending speaks for itself,” he said.

‘Left to die on the footpath’

Reading a victim impact statement to the court through tears, Mr Beasley’s mother Belinda Beasley addressed the teens who were sitting in the dock, calling them “cowards.”

“You ran away… and left Jack and [his friend] to die on the footpath with not a care in the world – what sort of people are you?” she said.

“In that one moment you destroyed so many people’s lives.”

Black and white photo of Jack Beasley
Mr Beasley’s parents established the Jack Beasley Foundation in a bid to change attitudes around youth violence among students.(ABC Gold Coast: Dominic Cansdale)

Mrs Beasley described her son as a “beautiful boy” who was “cheeky, fun-loving and easy going” and said his death had turned her life into a “living nightmare”.

“The pain you have brought to our family is indescribable,” she said.

“To lose a child in the way we lost Jack altered our lives forever.

“Being a juvenile is no excuse – everyone knows right from wrong.”

‘Deeply tragic’

In a written statement by the younger teen, read by his defense lawyer James Benjamin, he said he took “full responsibility for my actions and hold myself accountable.”

“I understand I may never be forgiven but I hope one day I will be,” he said in the statement.

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Categories
US

Suspect identified in deadly mass stabbing on Wisconsin river

A Minnesota teenager died and four other people were seriously hurt after being stabbed while tubing down a Wisconsin river, authorities said. St. Croix County Sheriff Scott Knudson said the victims and suspect, 52-year-old Nicolae Miu from Prior Lake, Minnesota, were all on the Apple River when the attack happened Saturday afternoon. Knudson said investigators were working to determine what led to the stabbings and whether the victims and suspect knew each other. They were tubing with two different groups that included about 20 people. “We don’t know yet who was connected to who, who knew each other or what precipitated it,” Knudson said. The knife attack happened on a difficult-to-access section of the river near the town of Somerset, Wisconsin, which is about 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Minneapolis. The suspect was arrested about an hour and a half later while getting off the river downstream. “Thank goodness a witness had taken a photo of him,” Knudson told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “Another witness located him at the exit of the tubing area, where he was taken into custody.” A 17-year-old boy from Stillwater, Minnesota, died. Two of the other victims were flown to a hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota, and two others were taken there by ambulance. The sheriff’s office said Sunday that the condition of all four surviving victims _ a woman and three men in their 20s _ ranged from serious to critical. They suffered stab wounds to their chests and torsos. The sheriff’s office didn’t name the victims, but did provide a few details about them. The victims included a 20-year-old man and a 22-year-old man from Luck, Wisconsin; a 22-year-old man from Elk River, Minnesota; and a 24-year-old woman from Burnsville, Minnesota; The name of the suspect wasn’t immediately released, but St. Croix County jail records show a 52-year-old man was being held without bond on suspicion of first-degree homicide, four counts of aggravated battery and four counts of mayhem.

A Minnesota teenager died and four other people were seriously hurt after being stabbed while tubing down a Wisconsin river, authorities said.

St. Croix County Sheriff Scott Knudson said the victims and suspect, 52-year-old Nicolae Miu from Prior Lake, Minnesota, were all on the Apple River when the attack happened Saturday afternoon.

Accused river stabber Nicolae Miu

St. Croix Sheriff’s Office

Knudson said investigators were working to determine what led to the stabbings and whether the victims and suspect knew each other. They were tubing with two different groups that included about 20 people.

“We don’t know yet who was connected to who, who knew each other or what precipitated it,” Knudson said.

The knife attack happened on a difficult-to-access section of the river near the town of Somerset, Wisconsin, which is about 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Minneapolis. The suspect was arrested about an hour and a half later while getting off the river downstream.

“Thank goodness a witness had taken a photo of him,” Knudson told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “Another witness located him at the exit of the tubing area, where he was taken into custody.”

A 17-year-old boy from Stillwater, Minnesota, died. Two of the other victims were flown to a hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota, and two others were taken there by ambulance. The sheriff’s office said Sunday that the condition of all four surviving victims _ a woman and three men in their 20s _ ranged from serious to critical. They suffered stab wounds to their chests and torsos.

The sheriff’s office didn’t name the victims, but did provide a few details about them. The victims included a 20-year-old man and a 22-year-old man from Luck, Wisconsin; a 22-year-old man from Elk River, Minnesota; and a 24-year-old woman from Burnsville, Minnesota;

The name of the suspect wasn’t immediately released, but St. Croix County jail records show a 52-year-old man was being held without bond on suspicion of first-degree homicide, four counts of aggravated battery and four counts of mayhem.

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