St Peter’s College schoolmate pays tribute to alleged Gilberton murder victim Andrew Sorby-Adams

A former schoolmate has paid tribute to ‘genuine character’ Andrew Sorby-Adams, who was allegedly murdered in a Gilberton unit complex.

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A St Peter’s College old scholar has paid tribute to his “very funny and popular” former schoolmate after he was stabbed to death at his unit in Adelaide’s inner-north.

Andrew Sorby-Adams, 65, was killed at the Bentzen Court unit complex at Gilberton on June 16 in an alleged stabbing attack.

A 30-year-old woman was charged with his murder.

St Peter’s Old Collegians president and former schoolmate of Mr Sorby-Adams, Oren Klemich, was shocked to hear of the man’s death.

“Whilst we had no contact for the best part of 35 years, it’s sad to see someone you spent your formative years with die the way he died,” Mr Klemich said.

“I was shocked to see information about his recent passing.”

Mr Sorby-Adams graduated St Peter’s College in 1976, two years before Mr Klemich, but the pair played football and cricket for the school together.

Andrew Sorby-Adams was allegedly murdered at his Gilberton unit. Picture: SAPOL

“’Sorby’, as we called him, was a very good cricketer,” Mr Klemich said.

“He was good to be around and a very talented sportsman.”

Mr Sorby-Adams played First XI cricket for St Peter’s and was vice-captain of Da Costa House.

Mr Klemich recalled he was “a very, very intelligent, significant student at school” and a “genuine, genuine character”.

“He was very funny and popular and Sorby at school was just a good bloke,” he said.

“When you were around Sorby you were always laughing and always happy.”

Mr Sorby-Adams comes from a “talented family” including his late father Graeme, an orthopaedic surgeon and niece Annabel, an academic whose work spans Harvard, Cambridge and Adelaide universities.

But in the years since Mr Klemich had last been in contact with Mr Sorby-Adams, “tragically, a young man with such potential suffered from mental health issues”.

St Peter’s Old Collegians president Oren Klemich paid tribute to his former schoolmate. Picture: Tom Huntley

“Despite fabulous talent, mental health issues made his life a challenge,” Mr Klemich said.

Paramedics found Mr Sorby-Adams with multiple stab wounds in his housing trust unit after this carer requested a welfare check.

Tragically, he could not be saved.

The woman charged with his murder was arrested following a struggle with police, after allegedly smashing through the back door of a Walkerville Tce home — which sits next to the Bentzen Court unit complex.

After being taken into custody, the woman was taken to hospital with superficial injuries, and was sedated.

She has yet to plead to a number of charges, including murder and property damage.

An SA Police prosecutor asked the woman’s name and image be suppressed for at least four weeks to permit the gathering of evidence from potential eyewitnesses.

She said officers needed time to deal with the “large and complex” case that included toxicology and post-mortem reports, police bodycam footage and audio from a triple-0 call. The court imposed the suppression order, remanded the woman in mental health detention and ordered she face court again in October.

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