Court erupts as teenager cleared of stabbing murder of mum’s partner

Two families have burst into tears as a teenager was acquitted of murder and manslaughter over the stabbing death of his mother’s partner.

The teenager accused was found not guilty of both murder and manslaughter.

A youth has been cleared of murder and manslaughter after stabbing and slashing his mother’s boyfriend 35 times, evidence of which left a juror so disturbed she was discharged.

The teenager, who was 16 at the time, was found not guilty by a jury late on Wednesday afternoon following a trial in Brisbane Supreme Court.

The now 18-year-old had pleaded not guilty to murdering the 42-year-old on the night of September 7, 2022, at their Sunshine Coast home on the basis of self-defence.

The trial had heard the two had been drinking when the man started talking about drugs and violent stuff.

The youth, who took the stand, said he had been so scared he was crying.

When the man grabbed him by the shirt the youth pleaded for him to stop and pulled out a knife, he said.

He began stabbing the man when he kept coming at him, he said.

“I remember just screaming ‘you f---ing dog’ over and over again,” he said.

Afterwards he was heard repeatedly apologising, saying the man deserved it and the man was trying to kill him.

Members of both families cried when the jury delivered its verdict after deliberating for about five hours.

The youth also cried and made the sign of the cross after the verdict was delivered.

Police at the scene of the incident in 2022

“This is not a trial about what caused (the complainant’s) death. My client admits he was responsible for the wounds that were inflicted,” Ms Smith said earlier this week.

“He struck out with the knife because he had reason to, he thought he would be killed.”

The Courier-Mail can now reveal a juror in the trial was so disturbed by a photo of the deceased that she was discharged.

On the trial’s second day the juror asked to be let go because she was scared and afraid.

A photo of the deceased had also left her unable to sleep.

“I’m trying to close my eyes, but the photo is always in my head,” she said in a note to Justice Frances Williams.

The woman also expressed concern at not participating fully as English was her second language.

“I would have preferred to have got further through the week before having to consider letting a juror go. But I’m also mindful of, perhaps, having somebody in the jury room who’s not wanting to be there and has already been distressed by the subject matter,” Justice France Williams said at the time.

The woman was replaced by a reserve juror.

When graphic autopsy photos were displayed during the pathologist’s evidence the court switched off the screens immediately in front of jurors instead only showing the images on a larger but further away screen.