Stabbing victim Angus Beaumont’s parents deliver powerful statement

The grieving mother of a 15-year-old stabbing murder victim has stared down her son’s teenage killers in court, with a powerful victim impact statement.

The grieving mother of 15-year-old murder victim Angus Beaumont has faced down her son’s killers in court, telling them how their “gutless and selfish” actions destroyed her family.

Michelle Liddle sobbed as she described how she begged her son to open his eyes and breathe as he lay lifeless in a hospital bed after being stabbed in the heart by teenage killers, who high-fived one another after the vicious attack at Redcliffe in March 2020.

“My son’s body was now nothing more than evidence in a brutal homicide,” she said.

Ms Liddle said she was haunted by the thought of her son dying alone on a dirty path, and by the howls of grief from her youngest son when he learned Angus had been killed.

The heartbroken mother said her son, who should be turning 18 in two months, had been a beautiful, intelligent boy with boundless energy who loved to cook.

“When your child walks out the door you worry as a parent, but you never imagine that they won’t come home,” Ms Liddle said.

Michelle Liddle and Ben Beaumont leave Brisbane Supreme Court. Picture: Liam Kidston

“But on Friday the 13th of March 2020 that’s exactly what happened when you both chose to take my son’s life.”

The Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday heard the teens who killed Angus had appalling criminal histories and had gone on to offend even after the murder.

One of the boys had been on parole at the time of the attack and the other had been on bail. They were found guilty of murdering Angus at a trial in June.

Crown prosecutor Christopher Cooke said both teens had poor prospects of rehabilitation and presented an ongoing danger to the community.

In a victim impact statement she read to the court, Ms Liddle said her entire family struggled to cope with the loss of Angus.

“I didn’t even get to say goodbye or tell my son how much he was loved, he’d already passed long before we arrived at emergency,” she said.

Angus Beaumont was stabbed to death at Redcliffe.

Ms Liddle described how she sat by her son’s lifeless body in hospital: “I begged my boy to open his eyes, to please breathe.

“I’ll never forget the feeling of having to walk away from the hospital without our son, knowing we would ever hear him laugh or talk or ever see him alive again.”

Ms Liddle bravely stared down her son’s killers in the dock as she told them of the devastation they had caused.

“Your actions on that night were deliberate, callous and determined,” she told them.

“You had every intention to hunt and kill.

“It is clear by these acts of violence you both committed in killing my son, the remorselessness you’ve shown since, and your commitment to repeat such violent offending that you have no intention of changing your behaviour.

“You both should remain locked away for a very long time as to protect other families from suffering a similar fate as we have.”

The case continues.