Declan Laverty’s mother Samara Laverty shares agony having to watch her son’s death on repeat
“He was just a 20-year-old kid at work. And for that he died.”: Declan Laverty’s family have shared their pain and grief after having to watch the 20-year-old’s murder on repeat for eight days during a Supreme Court trial.
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“He was just a 20-year-old kid at work. And for that he died.”
For eight days, mother Samara Laverty has been forced to rewatch her son’s last moments on repeat, slowed down, and paused, frame by frame.
“Watching the fear on his face. Watching him run to that back room covered in blood, and knowing that he was dead a couple minutes later,” Ms Laverty, a Cairns resident, said outside of court.
“It’s horrendous, it’s horrible, I don’t wish that on anyone, ever.”
After five hours of deliberation a Darwin Supreme Court jury returned a guilty verdict in Keith Kerinauia’s murder trial, finding the 20-year-old was not acting in self defence and had intent to cause serious harm when he stabbed the bottle shop worker in the heart on Sunday March 19, 2023.
In the wake of the verdict the paramedic said she was haunted by the images of her son’s murder.
“There’s absolutely nothing that can prepare you when you see your son running with a huge hole in his chest, and blood pouring out,” she said.
“The brutality of what he went through that night, the size of the fatal wound.
“The one thing I needed to know was that he didn’t suffer.
“But listening to that last triple-0 call, he not only suffered but he died an agonising death.”
A single text message flashed on her screen that fateful night: “I love you mum, I’ve been stabbed”.
The jury heard Ms Laverty attempted to call her son, but all she heard was “screaming”.
During the trial, Ms Laverty had to listen to her own triple-0 recording as she tried to call for help, while more than 2500km from her son.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court in Darwin heard the guilty verdict that condemned the now 20-year-old killer to life in prison.
Ms Laverty said in the seconds before the guilty verdict was handed down she was “terrified”.
“I had no idea what was going to come. All I could just think of was ‘He got what he deserved’.
“Both Declan and Keith.
“(I’m) just relieved. Justice has been served the way it needed to be for Declan.”
After 15 months of sleepless nights, Ms Laverty said the Thursday decision had finally given her family closure.
“It’s knowing the right outcome was delivered is a huge relief,” she said.
Her voice wavering, Ms Laverty said her son “didn’t deserve this”.
“He was just a 20-year-old kid at work. And for that he died,” she said.
More than 5000 Territorians previously joined Ms Laverty in a march on the Territory parliament in the wake of her son’s murder, calling for tougher bail laws for those carrying weapons, handheld metal detection wands and family liaison officers for victims of homicide.
Ms Laverty said the support was “overwhelming” and she wanted to continue to “make change”.
“And if I can do anything to stop another family going through this pain, then it will be worth it,” she said.
The Supreme Court jury also heard Ms Laverty had advised her son to carry a knife at work, following threats from other customers.
“It wasn’t so much that I wanted him to carry a knife, it’s that I wanted him to be safe,” she said.
“I’ve so much guilt, that I feel like I was responsible for a lot of it because he had it.
“I felt for a long time that it was my fault.”
But Ms Laverty said the jury’s verdict, which dismissed Kerinauia‘s self defence plea, proved that her son was doomed as soon as the killer ran into the store with his blade.
“It would have happened that night, no matter what he had in his pocket,” she said.
Ms Laverty said she was sorry for the pain Kerinauia‘s family was going through, as the Darwin man faces a life sentence under mandatory sentencing laws.
“But the reality of this … it’s not a small assault,” she said.
“He took someone’s life.
“Whatever they are going to go through tonight is nothing compared to what we’ve been through the past 15 months and what we will go through for the rest of our lives.”
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