Plea for Balin – Balin Stewart’s dad urges parents to have the chat he never got to
The father of a teen killed in a knife attack in his own front yard has revealed the potentially lifesaving conversation he never got to have with his son and urged other parents to speak up.
Police & Courts
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The family of a beloved Sunshine Coast teenager who died after being stabbed metres from his front door have urged parents to have a tough conversation with their kids as they prepare to celebrate what should have been his 18th birthday this week.
Amid soaring rates of Queensland children carrying knives, Balin Stewart’s father Michael said he wished he had warned his son about the dangers posed by armed offenders.
“My biggest regret is never having a chat to Balin about if he’s ever confronted with a knife, don’t be a hero, get out of there, scream as loud as you can and remove yourself from that situation,” he said.
“Mums and dads, have that chat.”
The teen, then aged 17, stabbed Balin outside the family’s Buddina home in January last year, using an ordinary kitchen knife he had grabbed on the way out of his house.
Balin was just 16 when he died in his parents arms as they fought to revive him.
In the wake of his tragic death, Michael and Kerri-Lyn Stewart established the Balin Stewart Foundation which aims to discourage people, especially children, from carrying knives.
Their campaign slogan is ‘Bin the Blade for Balin’ – they argue if a knife isn’t present, it cannot be used to such devastating effect.
“When you look at the police statistics, 60 per cent of kids carry a knife because of protection, 30 per cent because they think it’s cool or for notoriety and only 10 per cent want to cause harm,” Mr Stewart said.
“If the consequences are strong enough, the 10 per cent per cent won’t carry a knife and that means the other 90 per cent won’t feel that they have to, so it’s an educational thing that needs to get through.
“We need the kids’ help in order to change the culture that they need to carry a knife.”
Mr Stewart regularly presents to school students as part of his work with the foundation.
“ … my opening line when I speak to students is ‘I do not enjoy talking about the worst night of my life’, however if I can get them to understand how devastating it is and get the kids themselves to disarm,” he said.
Balin would have turned 18 this Friday, September 8, a week after his killer was sentenced in court.
“It’s come at the worst time,” Mr Stewart said of the sentencing date.
“This is a time we wanted to be celebrating Balin’s life.”
His family and friends will commemorate with a private event on Friday before hosting a public event on Saturday to celebrate Balin’s life and raise funds to continue the work of the foundation established in his honour.
“Like any parent we’re putting on a festival, it’s called the Balin Forever Festival and it’s simply there to have a party for a kid that would have loved to have a party,” Mr Stewart said.
“We would love everybody to come along and we’ll do it annually and hopefully it gets bigger and better every year so people can rejoice the life of Balin but then also remember what the consequences of carrying a knife can do and the devastation it can do on an entire community, not just to our family.”
The public all ages events will be held at Venue 114 at Bokarina and tickets can be purchased through the foundation at balinstewartfoundation.org.au.
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