‘Step up and own it’
Partner’s message to teen killer
A MOTHER has stared down her partner’s teenage killer and told him it is “time to step up and own” his actions.
Alexander Craig Price Kirke, 19, killed Gold Coast father Darren Pullar by running him over in an attempt to escape a botched home invasion.
Mr Pullar had bravely come to the aid of his neighbour when he heard the violent home invasion in the early hours of Boxing Day 2016, a court heard yesterday.
Kirke and some mates had allegedly armed themselves with a baseball bat, a cricket bat and a knife to rob a drug dealer’s home at Broadbeach Waters.
It’s alleged they told the dealer “give us your money and your bags” but the robbery was botched and Mr Pullar, woken by the commotion, came to his neighbour’s aid.
Mr Pullar tried to stop Kirke, who was the getaway driver, from driving away with the would-be robbers but the teenager drove right over him. He accelerated and did not slow down, the court was told.
Later, after being on the run for a week, Kirke told an undercover police officer in a cell that driving over Mr Pullar’s body felt like hitting a “human speed bump”.
Kirke pleaded guilty to Mr Pullar’s manslaughter, among other offences.
The Brisbane Supreme Court was told Kirke had tried to apologise for the killing, against the wishes of lawyers, in September 2017.
Kirke told a court: “I’m not sure if the victim’s family is in the courtroom but I just want to completely apologise for this tragic accident. I recently lost my father (to cancer) myself.”
Yesterday, Mr Pullar’s partner Collette Dunn, sitting with his son Aidan, stared Kirke down and responded by telling him to take full responsibility for his crimes.
“One thing my son was taught from this awful experience is that while you took his dad away, losing Darren was never an excuse for bad behaviour,” Ms Dunn told the court in her victim impact statement. “Time for you to step up and own it.”
Prosecutors have asked for a jail sentence of nine years.
Justice Peter Davis reserved his decision.