Three men charged with murder of Irish teenager in Australia
POLICE in Australia have charged three men with the death of a 19-year-old Irishman which occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Cian English, originally from Carlow town, moved to the Brisbane area with his family five years ago.
The teenager was found critically injured at the base of an apartment building in Surfers Paradise in Queensland.
It is believed that a passerby discovered Mr English’s body on the pavement outside the View Avenue apartment complex in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast at around 3.15am on Sunday and called emergency services.
The responders made attempts to revive him, but his injuries were too severe, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police allege an attempted robbery had occurred in one of the building’s units and that Mr English was trying to escape from a number of assailants when he fell from the upper-floor balcony.
The case was heard in court yesterday but the three men accused of murder and attempted robbery – Jason Ryan Knowles (22), Hayden Paul Kratzmann (20), and Lachlan Paul Soper-Lagas (18) – were not required to appear in court.
Mr English’s family said in a statement they were devastated and appealed for privacy.
Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith, who is leading the investigation, described Mr English’s death as “tragic”.
“We’ve got a young man who was on the Gold Coast with his friends and one thing led to another and he’s now dead,” he said.
Cian’s father, Vinnie English, played hurling with the Carlow county team.
His uncles, Niall, Barry and Karl, played hurling and Gaelic football with Carlow.
Cian’s grandfather, John, and grandmother, Theresa, were well known in Carlow GAA circles, with John, a native of Rathnure, Co Wexford, having worked with Carlow County Council for many years.
John’s brother, Jim, who lived in Bagenalstown, was a member of the Wexford All-Ireland-winning hurling teams of 1955, 1956 and 1960, and was also a former chairman of Carlow GAA.