Mother of murder victim Jaxon Bradey shares her heartache on 15th anniversary of his death

The mother of a popular high school student murdered in cold blood on his last day of classes has for the first time revealed the heart breaking events as they unfolded for her the day her son was killed.

Jaxon Bradey (inset) was brutally and randomly murdered in the carpark of Goldfields Shopping Centre in Gympie on November 27, 2009. He died in hospital despite desperate efforts to save his life.

The mother of a Gympie boy who was randomly hunted down and murdered with a bayonet in a shopping centre car park has spoken of her unbearable pain and trauma 15 years to the day after the horrific events.

Jaxon Bradey was a popular 15-year-old student at James Nash State High School on the day he walked into the city centre after collecting his mobile phone from school, and accidentally and fatally crossing the path of a crazed killer.

It was the morning of his last day of actual classes, November 27, 2009, as he only had two more exams to do before the Christmas school holidays began.

Jaxon Bradey was just 15 years old when a crazed teenage killer murdered him in the Goldfields Plaza car park in Gympie.

He had also just completed his first year cadetship with the SES.

Jaxon was walking alone near Goldfields Shopping Centre about 9am, when his 16-year-old killer took after him, chasing him into the car park underneath the shopping centre and attacking him with the bayonet he was carrying.

Mary Street businessman Dave Phillips was also in the car park that morning, and was also stabbed by the killer but managed to fend him off with a shopping trolley before another Gympie man Neil Wildman, helped disarm him.

Jaxon died in hospital later that day from his wounds.

Gympie businessman Dave Phillips was also stabbed by the killer that day but survived, and helped subdue his attacker.

Mr Phillips and Mr Wildman both received bravery awards for what they did.

The killer was sentenced two years later to life in jail with 15 years non-parole, including time served.

A Queensland Corrective Services search on November 27, 2024, revealed he remained in the Wolston Correctional Centre.

He was never named as he was a minor, but he had a history of mental health issues, and was on probation in 2009 for trying to rape two young boys. He would now be 31.

On the morning of the 15th anniversary of Jaxon’s death today (Wednesday, November 27) Jaxon’s devastated mother Tammy Bradey shared her heartache on social media:

“Fifteen years ago and seven hours from now, was one of the worst days that changed my life forever,” she wrote.

“Started out like every day before it, get up early to get children ready for school.

“Watching Jackson walking up the long cement driveway in his school uniform at half 8 to get the bus to school was the last time I would see him alive.

Tammy Bradey in 2009 is comforted by her children, Patricia Bradey, Katrina Bradey, Cheyanne Bradey and Lindsay Bradey after the senseless loss of her son Jaxon Bradey, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“But I didn’t know that.

“Half 11 I got a phone call that started this heartbreaking day off.

“It was the CIB telling me that Jackson was at the hospital after an incident in town.

“I asked what it was and they responded with telling me they were sending some detectives out to pick me up to take me to the hospital.

“It was a quiet drive to town but with a mother’s instinct I had a gut feeling that something was terribly wrong.

“Got to the hospital and was told he was stabbed and they were trying to stop the bleeding and save his life.

“Sitting in a little room out near emergency twiddling thumbs, get up and down off the chair I was sitting on, continuously wondering what the hell was going on.

“They eventually took me in to prove to me they were doing their best to save him.

Flowers left outside the Goldfields Plaza carpark to remember Jaxon Bradey.

“His chest cavity was open, I could see a breathing tube in his mouth.

“I seen one doctor stitching up his heart and another was massaging it to keep it beating.

“They took me back in the little room.
“Some time later they came out and told me that they tried everything they could but he was gone.

“At that moment I stood up and pounded on the wall screaming ‘what the f--k is wrong with this world?’, ‘why me?’, ‘why did I just lose another son?’, ‘why why why?’.

“They came back out took me in to see him so I could say my goodbyes.

“That was the second worst day of my life.

“And here we are 15 years on and I still can’t work out why things happen; why my life has taken this journey and what is going on in my life, I still have no direction.

“No amount of time can heal the wounds of pain that I am feeling every day from losing my two boys.

“I just can’t get a handle on anything.

“Hold your loved ones close, let them know you love them every day and every night.

“Enjoy every precious moment, you never know when it will be the last. Thank you for reading.”