Teen charged over stabbing death at wild New Year street party
Police have appealed for witnesses to the alleged New Year’s Eve murder of a 17-year-old boy at a violent street party to come forward with video footage.
Cairns
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UPDATE: Police have appealed for witnesses to the alleged New Year’s Eve murder of a 17-year-old boy at a violent street party to come forward with video footage.
Far North detectives charged a 14-year-old by with murder late Saturday flowing an alleged stabbing at a Manoora street party.
He will front the Cairns Children’s Court on January 3.
Cairns police, throwing everything at the investigation, have learned from witness statements that lights from mobile phones were seen during the Lychee Close party, suggesting video had been recorded.
More than 30 people are understood to be involved in a wild brawl that broke out in the street after a birthday party gathering was shared on social media.
Acting Inspector Gary Hunter, leading the investigation, said regardless of their involvement police urged witnesses to break their silence.
“We are appealing for people to come forward and provide us with information so we can complete the investigation,” he said.
“We know people were at this event with their phones and we know with social media it’s popular to film these types of incidents.
“So we encourage people if you do have some footage, please contact police.”
In the early hours of New Year’s Day a 17-year-old Mooroobool boy died in Cairns Hospital after allegedly being stabbed in the abdomen.
Act Insp Hunter said in the lead-up to the laying of the murder charge new information came to light that made police confident of a conviction in the courts.
“Police were able to unearth some evidence from witnesses to corroborate the actual charge of murder,” he said.
A second 17-year-old Mooroobool boy also presented at Cairns Hospital after suffering bottle stab wounds to the shoulder and kidney area.
He has since been discharged according to a Cairns Hospital spokeswoman.
The senior Cairns cop warned about the danger of disclosing the location of parties on social media.
“We know from previous events, parties can get out of control, once advertised through social media,” he said.
“And people that are actually holding the parties really can’t take control of the numbers that roll up.
“So that’s obviously concerning.”
However the investigation is yet to uncover evidence that violent attacks were premeditated.
“There’s no suggestion that this was any type of retribution or pre-planned attack,” he said.
“Investigations that have led us to believe it’s something that occurred on the night.
“And it’s unfortunate. Out of this particular event, two people’s lives young have been affected.”
INITIAL: Cairns police have laid murder charges in the wake of a birthday party that got out of hand and turned into a large-scale street brawl after being shared on social media.
In the early hours of New Year’s Day a 17-year-old Mooroobool boy died in Cairns Hospital after allegedly being stabbed in the abdomen during a wild melee at a Manoora street involving up to 30 people.
Detectives charged a 14-year-old Edmonton boy early this morning with one count of murder.
On Saturday Acting Inspector Gary Hunter confirmed a 14-year-old boy was “helping police” but said the laying of murder charges was “far away”.
It’s understood the Queensland Police Service had allocated significant resources to the New Year’s Day death.
Another boy aged 17 and two men aged 18 and 28 have been charged with obstructing police, after officers were called to break up the Lychee Close street brawl at about 1am.
Act Insp Hunter said these three offenders were not residents of the street.
“The information that police have gleaned so far is that there were 30 plus people in that street, possibly more,” he said.
“And large groups of people had spilt out onto the actual roadway itself.
“Police were called there for a triple-0 phone call disturbance and that is forming part of our investigations.”
The acting inspector was “definitely concerned” by the violence and the tragic outcome on the first day of 2022.
“We have a young life being taken in very tragic circumstances,” he said.
“It’s an unfortunate event to happen on the first day of the year.
“Yes, we will be supporting the family.
“We understand that (they are in) grieving time at the moment.”
The 14-year-old Edmonton boy charged with murder has been denied police bail to appear in the Cairns Children's Court on January 3.
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Originally published as Teen charged over stabbing death at wild New Year street party
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