‘Unsettling’ casualness to violent acts
A CASUAL attitude to violence now held by some young people prior to 17-year-old Jack Beasley’s fatal stabbing in tourism hub Surfers Paradise was “unsettling”, a judge has said.
The comment comes in Justice Soraya Ryan’s reasons for finding three men not guilty of manslaughter and two counts of grievous bodily harm in the Supreme Court in Brisbane.
In finding the trio not guilty, Justice Ryan said: “Decent members of the community observing this trial could not help but be struck by the senseless tragedy of it all, and the unsettling insight it offered into the casualisation of violence among some of our young people.”
It was alleged a group of five boys – known during a trial as the Woodridge Group – were in Surfers Paradise when Parkwood teen Jack was fatally stabbed near the Surfers Paradise IGA on December 13, 2019. It occurred about 8pm as shocked restaurant diners watched on from across the road.
One of Jack’s friends, Ariki Waiariki-katuke, also 17, was stabbed in the back and chest, leaving him with a punctured lung, it was alleged.
The group of five were aged between 15 and 18 at the time and the four youngest cannot be named for legal reasons.
Ma-mal-j Toala and two teens – aged 16 at the time of
Jack’s death – pleaded not guilty on May 16 to manslaughter and two counts of grievous bodily harm. Toala, who was 18 at the time of the stabbing, and the two teens were acquitted on Thursday.
Justice Ryan acquitted the three men, including Ma-malJ Toala on Thursday. It was after a week and a half long judge-only trial held in May.
“This trial was about whether any of the three defendants are to be held criminally responsible for the unexpected, fatal, knife violence of their companion,” she said.
Justice Ryan said she was not satisfied that death or grievous bodily harm were “probable consequences” of a fight the group had planned.
She was not satisfied a then-15-year-old member of the group’s action in stabbing Jack and Ariki was a plan the three men acquitted also shared, she said.
“I was therefore not satis
fied, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendants bore criminal responsibility for (the 15-year-old’s) unexpected knife violence, causing Jack’s death and Ariki’s injuries,” Justice Ryan said.
In her reasons, Justice Ryan described the CCTV vision played to the court and found the Woodridge Group had arrived on the Gold Coast from Woodridge via public transport – and they were aware the youngest had a knife after it was used at a barbecue.
She also found the Woodridge Group were looking for a fight and had been staring at Jack’s group when the crossed paths earlier.
“The Woodridge Group wanted to fight with Jack Beasley’s Group,” she said.
“As far as they were concerned, there was nothing else to do at Surfers Paradise.
“Members of Jack Beasley’s Group made it plain, more than once, they had no interest in a fight with the Woodridge Group.”
Justice Ryan said the Woodridge Group did not intend the attack to result in serious harm.
“I could find nothing in the words or conduct of any defendant or in any evidence to suggest that the group attack they had in contemplation was the sort of attack which carried, objectively, as more than a substantial possibility, death or grievous bodily harm, as outcomes,” she said.
Justice Ryan found the Woodridge Group wanted to fight for the sake of it and the brawl they embarked upon was “a scrappy sort of fist fight”.
“To say that something tragic may possibly happen in a fist fight is not enough to render the defendants criminally responsible for (the 15year-old’s) unexpectedly violent behaviour using a weapon they had not anticipated would be used in the fight,” she said.
Justice Ryan said she was not persuaded death or grievous bodily harm were “substantially possible” outcomes of the violence the defendants had contemplated.
The youngest of the five charged – now 17 – pleaded guilty on May 9 to murder and two counts of committing a malicious act with intent.
A second teen – now 19 – pleaded guilty in April to manslaughter and two counts of grievous bodily harm. The two teens who pleaded guilty will be sentenced at a later date.