Hindley St alleged murder victim identified as Lewis Parkin, 23-year-old son of serving SA Police officer

A friend has paid tribute to the young man as new details emerge about the violent incident on Adelaide’s notorious party strip overnight.

• St Marys man charged with murder

A young man slain in an alleged Hindley Street murder overnight is the son of an SA Police officer, The Advertiser has confirmed.

Lewis Parkin has been remembered as a “good time” and a “very upbeat” person following his murder on Adelaide’s notorious night-life strip street on Friday night.

The 23-year-old son of a serving SA Police officer died after he was stabbed on Hindley St near the West End Motel and Backpackers just before 8pm.

Mr Parkin sustained life-threatening injuries, with witnesses describing him as “not responding” before he was rushed to hospital where he died a short time later.

Lewis Parkin, victim of stabbing on Hindley Street Picture: Supplied

New Zealand backpacker Finlay Weth said he had become close mates with Mr Parkin over the course of a month while both stayed at the hostel.

Mr Weth, 18, said he was shocked by the tragedy.

“I went for a walk with him like half an hour before (the attack) to go to Thirsty Camel to go get some drinks … and we were going to go see the fire dancing at 7.30pm,” he said.

Mr Weth said he watched paramedics trying to resuscitate a man from the hostel window but did not realise it was his friend.

“I tried calling Lewis,” Mr Weth said. “And then the guy who was standing by the window with me was like ‘who are you calling?’ and I was like ‘Lewis’ and he was like ‘that is Lewis’.

“And then I just looked at what he was wearing and I noticed he was wearing long skins which is what Lewis had been wearing all day.

“I didn’t see his face – so I didn’t realise for a while.”

Mr Weth said he wanted to extend his condolences Mr Perkin’s family and especially his father with whom he had recently caught up for lunch.

A man has been charged with murder. Picture: Dasha Havrilenko

Police and ambulance crews at the scene on Hindley Street on Friday. Picture: George Yankovich

“I hope everything is all good with them,” he said.

“Especially the dad … (Lewis) told me his dad’s a sergeant or something like.”

However, Mr Weth said he was “still in quite a bit of shock”.

“He was a good time, he was fun to hang around, he was very upbeat,” Mr Weth said,

“He always got me out of a bad mood when I was homesick or anything like that. We’d go on walks to Rundle and stuff like that.”

On his Facebook profile, Mr Parkin wrote in his ‘About Me’ section to “live life to the fullest!!!!” and in his intro he said to “always gamble with preparation”.

His profile reports he worked as an assistant manager in finance and accounts for an online marketing company and studied at UniSA, TAFE SA and Urrbrae Agricultural High School.

Police are continuing their investigations following the arrest of a 42-year-old man from St Marys who has been charged with murder and will face court on Monday.

The incident is not considered random, and the two men are known to each other.