Stabbing victim Balin Stewart and girl sent videos to murder accused prior to fatal scuffle
Provocative Instagram videos featuring Balin Stewart and a teen girl were sent to the 16-year-old’s alleged killer the night of the fatal stabbing, a court has heard.
Police & Courts
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Instagram videos exchanged between three Sunshine Coast teenagers before one was allegedly stabbed to death have been played to a Supreme Court jury.
Prosecutors allege 16-year-old Balin Stewart was stabbed to death last year by another boy amid simmering tensions over a girl.
The Brisbane Supreme Court has heard on the evening of January 20, 2022, the girl and Balin sent a number of videos to the other boy to “provoke him”.
In one video played to the court on Tuesday, a shirtless Balin is seen walking up behind the girl and putting his face over hers, obscuring them from the camera.
In another, the girl’s hand is shown grabbing Balin’s exposed buttocks as he smiles back at the camera.
In the last video, the two are shown lying side-by-side clothed on Balin’s bed talking and gesturing towards the camera.
The 17-year-old boy, who has pleaded not guilty to Balin’s murder, allegedly responded in writing to the videos “Balin u wanna fight?”.
The court heard two more video messages were sent from the girl’s phone in response and at 11.14pm, the defendant allegedly messaged “Come out”.
It’s alleged the girl and Balin went outside his Buddina home and found the defendant out the front.
The girl has given evidence the two boys fought, then separated for a time and then began fighting again before the fatal knife blow was allegedly struck.
Under cross examination from the defendant’s barrister Charlotte Smith, the girl was questioned about her police interview in which she told the officer the videos were of her and Balin “cuddling” and that he might have smacked her bum in another.
“But that’s not the truth is it,” Ms Smith asked.
The girl responded: “I was a bit distressed that night so….”.
She agreed she knew the videos had “upset” the other boy and she felt “guilty” and “embarrassed” by that.
She insisted she was not being untruthful and that she was “muddled up” with “a lot of things going through my head”.
She was also questioned about the relationship between the two boys prior to January 20, 2022.
Asked whether Balin didn’t like the other boy, the girl said: “He didn’t really have a problem, it was just the fact that (the defendant) hated him”.
“Balin didn’t like the way you had been treated by (the defendant),” Ms Smith asked.
The girl agreed.
Ms Smith also questioned the girl about a photo another girl shared online on January 14, 2022 in which Balin and another boy were allegedly shown holding a knife.
“I don’t specifically actually remember the image but I remember this being a kerfuffle,” she said.
“I remember people talking about this image.
“I don’t remember seeing it but I remember there being a thing about it.”
The trial continues.
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