Man guilty of murder over scissors stabbing at Brisbane station

A young man who fatally stabbed a 24-year-old in the neck following a confrontation at Fortitude Valley railway station has been found guilty of murder.

Seyram Kwami Djentuh pleaded not guilty in Brisbane Supreme Court late last month to murdering Lauie Tagaloa on July 11, 2022.

Tagaloa died just after 4am from an 11.5cm stab wound Djentuh inflicted “in one swift move” with a pair of scissors to the left side of his neck, crown prosecutor Elizabeth Kelso said in her opening statement.

“Immediately blood can be seen flowing from that wound onto the floor.”

The jury returned a guilty verdict on Tuesday after deliberating for about eight hours.

Djentuh was sentenced to life imprisonment and will serve a minimum of 20 years before being eligible for parole.

Defence barrister Matthew Hynes previously said the trial was about what happens when a person runs out of choices.

Lauie Michael Tagaloa seconds before he was stabbed at Fortitude Valley station.Credit: Nine News

“It’s about defending yourself from what is clearly an imminent threat coming in your direction in the form of a big man, in the form of someone who has already proven that they can do serious damage to your two friends – and he did that in a matter of seconds,” he said.

The altercation began when two groups of men encountered each other for the first time after leaving different nightclubs about 3am.

CCTV and phone footage shown during the trial captured much of their movements from then until after the stabbing, when emergency services were called at 4.07am.

The footage showed Djentuh getting a bottle of water before going to the back of a NightOwl store and grabbing orange-handled scissors, which he tucked into the back of his white jeans before the final altercation with Tagaloa’s group.

AAP