‘Graphic and confronting’: Traumatic pics shown during teen stabbing trial

A judge has addressed a jury, along with the family and friends of alleged stabbing victim Balin Stewart, after “graphic” pictures of the teen were shown with little warning in court.

Traumatic photographs of the body of a boy allegedly stabbed to death by another teen have been shown in court.

The confronting images were showcased as one of the victim’s friends told the court the alleged killer said to her he was “just so angry and overcome with jealousy” and that it was “an impulse” to take a knife when he decided to go to the victim’s house.

Balin Stewart, 16, died on January 20, 2022 after he was allegedly stabbed by a 17-year-old boy outside his home in Buddina on the Sunshine Coast.

Balin Stewart died after allegedly being stabbed on a Buddina street in 2022.

His accused killer, now 18 but who cannot be identified, is facing a two-week Brisbane Supreme Court trial and pleaded not guilty to murder at the start of the case on Monday.

Among the witnesses giving evidence on Thursday was a girl who knew Balin and the defendant. She spent the evening with Balin at a house party on the night he died.

The girl told the court she had been drinking one night with friends in October 2022 and decided to speak to the accused killer at his house because she knew he lived close by.

She testified that she knocked on his family’s door, and the defendant answered. She said he agreed to speak to her and the defendant’s sister was also present for their conversation.

“I asked him why he did it and if he regretted it?” the witness told the court on Thursday.

“To the first question, he said he was just so angry and overcome with jealousy and it was an impulse to grab the knife.

“To the second question, he said: ‘Yes I regret it.’”

Following this exchange, the girl asked the defendant’s sister how she and the rest of her family were doing and she made small talk with the defendant.

She told the defendant to stay away from the Kawana area because she, her friends, and Balin’s friends often went there. She said they would feel uncomfortable if they saw him.

The parents of Balin Stewart, Michael and Kerri-Lyn Stewart (left and right) outside the Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Glenn Campbell

Earlier on Thursday, the court was shown pictures of Balin’s body in the morgue, during the evidence provided by forensic pathologist Dr Jessica Vidler.

There was little warning given to the jury or the families of the victim and defendant who were seated in the public gallery.

The pictures included wide shots of Balin’s body lying on an open body bag and these were followed by close-ups of his face and injuries.

Jury members were visibly uncomfortable looking at them.

The families of the victim and defendant were visibly upset and distressed. Balin’s father and mother cried in reaction to several pictures, while members of the defendant’s family put their heads in their hands and couldn’t look at some of the pictures.

The reaction to the pictures from the public gallery and the jury prompted Judge Elizabeth Wilson to address them afterwards. She described them as “graphic and confronting”.

“They were intended to show where the injuries were,” Judge Wilson told the jury.

“I direct you that any emotion you may have felt when seeing these photographs cannot have any part to play in your decision and you must approach your duty dispassionately, deciding the facts on the whole of the evidence.”

Balin Stewart was allegedly stabbed to death outside his Buddina home on January 20, 2022. Picture: Supplied

Dr Vidler said Balin died from a stab wound which entered under his left nipple, went through the chest wall, between his ribs, through the chest cavity and lung, and pierced his heart.

She added that death would have been quick.

Dr Vidler said Balin’s blood-alcohol was 0.64 – little more than the legal driving limit – and there were no drugs in his system.

The trial continues.