Cairns teen found not guilty of murder of 17yo Jayden Dau at party

A mother screamed at the teen’s family accused but acquitted of stabbing her son, Jayden Dau, to death as he tried to break up a fight at a New Year’s Eve party in Far North Queensland.

Seventeen-year-old Jayden Dau was killed after allegedly being stabbed at a Manoora street party in the early hours of New Year's Day.

“You get to see your son, I will never see mine again.”

Harriet Dau screamed these words to the family of the then 14-year-old accused but acquitted of stabbing her son, Jayden Dau, to death as he tried to break up a fight at a New Year’s Eve party in Far North Queensland inManoora.

Tensions exploded on Thursday as the families of the two boys (14 and 17 at the time of incident) left the courthouse escorted by police with Jayden’s mother — wearing a white shirt with the words ‘Forever 17’ above a picture of her son — launching into a grief-stricken display of anguish.

The accused was acquitted of all charges.

“My son is gone, I will never see my boy again,” Ms Dau said as she left the court after the verdict.

Family and friends of Jayden Dau outside the Cairns Courthouse, Harriet Dau pictureed centre.

During the trial, almost 30 witnesses give emotional evidence including teenagers present at the party, investigating police officers, neighbours, and DNA and forensics experts.

During witness testimony the jury heard there were two arguments at the New Year’s Eve party.

The first was between two groups of boys, one from Mooroobool and one from Edmonton, and ended in a handshake.

The second was a brawl that erupted between members of the groups after midnight with one boy stabbed with a broken bottle, and Jayden bleeding to death in the arms of a young girl in a gutter while she told him he was too young to die.

Several witnesses told the jury Jayden was not involved in any violence but was acting as a “peacekeeper”.

A mother who became embroiled in the brawl when she arrived with another to pick up her own sons told the court Jayden was looking out for her son as he tried to get him to calm down and stop fighting.

“He took my boy and put his forehead against his and told him to calm down and head back to the car, he was helping them trying to get them to stop fighting,” she told the court.

She said in the car she got angry at the boys for fighting when she heard what had happened to Jayden.

Scene of a fatal stabbing of a 17 year old Cairns boy at a New Year's Eve house party in Lychee Close, Manoora. A fight occurred on the street, resulting in two males being stabbed around 1am on Saturday 1 January 2022. Picture: Brendan Radke

“He’s their brother and he helped them, and I took my anger out on them,” she said.

Other witnesses related to and who had grown up with Jayden said he was “a quiet boy” who would never “start trouble”.

The defendant was represented by lead defence counsel Tim Ryan who told the court there was no direct evidence which implicated his client as the person responsible for Jayden’s death.

During his cross examination of witnesses, Mr Ryan highlighted the chaotic nature of the brawl on the street that night, the darkness of the street in which it happened (being lit by a single street-light), and the level of intoxication of those at the party, their reliability as witnesses to the events that took place, and the inconsistent nature of some of their evidence from previous interviews and testimony and as a group.

He said the prosecution’s attempts to narrow down their suspect list through process of elimination was flawed by the nature of the brawl and a number of people on the street unaccounted for.

He told the jury what they were being asked to accept from the prosecution was nothing more than a theory.

Scene of a fatal stabbing of a 17 year old Cairns boy at a New Year's Eve house party in Lychee Close, Manoora. A fight occurred on the street, resulting in two males being stabbed around 1am on Saturday January 1, 2022. Blood stains on the road where the two boys were treated by paramedics. Picture: Brendan Radke

In summing up the case for the defence, Justice James Henry said it was based on circumstantial evidence.

“It was submitted the evidence goes nowhere near proving guilt, there is no witness to the stabbing, no admission of the stabbing, no forensic evidence,” Justice Henry said.

“The case was entirely based on circumstantial evidence.

“At the time of the fatal wounding it was submitted there was any number of people outside fighting.

“It was submitted it was a scene of complete chaos.”

Before the trial, Jayden’s family said they would remember him as a “handsome young man” who had the world at his feet.

“He is always going to be my handsome young man but I’m going to be unable to see him in the future,” Ms Dau said at the time.

“I went blank, I was shocked. Entering the emergency hospital thinking that you are going to walk in and see your son sitting there and telling mum ‘It’s going to be OK’,” she said.

“But it wasn’t like that.

“A mother’s love is always a mother’s love, you can never take that away.”

Originally published as Cairns teen found not guilty of murder of 17yo Jayden Dau at party