Final moments of 17-year-old, Jayden Dau revealed by key witness in murder trial

A girl in her early teens dressed in a blue forensics suit has described to a court how she tried to comfort a 17-year-old in the final moments of his life. As he lay, head in her lap, scared and bleeding, with a deep knife wound to his abdomen she told him it was too soon for him to die.

Seventeen-year-old Jayden Dau was killed after allegedly being stabbed at a Manoora street party in the early hours of New Year's Day, 2022.

In a harrowing police interview played to a Cairns Supreme Court jury, a girl in her early teens dressed in a blue forensics suit has described how she tried to comfort 17-year-old Jayden Dau in the final moments of his life.

As Jayden lay his head in her lap, scared and bleeding, with a deep knife wound to his abdomen, she told him it was too soon for him to die, the court was told.

The girl provided two police interviews after he was fatally stabbed during a New Year’s party at Lychee Close, Manoora, in 2022.

The interviews, along with her pre-recorded evidence, were played to the jury presiding over the murder trial of a young boy who was just 14 when he was accused of killing Jayden.

The defendant has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.

In her first interview the witness described Jayden as a “quiet boy who doesn’t start trouble” and told police he had been trying to de-escalate the situation after a brawl broke out shortly after midnight.

She told police she was focused on a fight which had broken out between some other boys before she noticed Jayden with another boy off to one side.

“I think Jayden was trying to defend himself because whoever the other fella was he was carrying a knife,” she said in the interview played to the jury.

“I think Jayden was trying to stop him.

Family and friends of Jayden Dau outside the Cairns Courthouse.

She described the boy she saw as wearing a black shirt with a bum bag.

“When the boy stepped back he swung his hand and he had a knife and ran back into the street.

“I saw Jayden go down, crouch down and hold his guts.

“That's when I ran to him and grabbed him by the hips and told him to go away, but I didn’t know he was bleeding.

“I asked if he was OK and he said ‘nah my sister, I need help’ and I think he ran.”

The girl said she felt something warm on her hand.

“Another girl asked if I was bleeding and when I looked at my hand I had blood all over,” she said.

“I asked everyone where Jayden was and they said he went to the end of the street.

“He had walked up to the other end of the street to someone’s yard and when I saw him he was bleeding really bad so I took him and told him to lay down.”

The girl put Jayden’s head in her lap and started yelling for someone to help, but no one heard her for “a couple of minutes”.

“I was crying, telling him to stay with me, he was grabbing me asking me to help,” she said.

“He was scared and he was getting pale, I kept screaming for help and he just kept grabbing on to me.”

When help came they were able to place Jayden in a neighbour’s car who took them both to the hospital where Jayden would pass away just an hour later.

“I put him in my lap and was talking to him, I told him it’s too early for you to go and was telling him to stay with me.”

17-year-old Jayden Dau was killed after being stabbed at a Manoora street party in the early hours of New Year's Day, 2022.

In her second interview played to the jury the witness described seeing the accused with a knife earlier in the night, during and after an earlier argument.

She did not identify him as the boy she saw with Jayden when he was stabbed.

“I went outside and people were fighting,” she said.

“He was saying who’s going to get stabbed, who wants to get shanked.

“He was tensing himself and holding the knife at his side.”

The witness said someone took the knife off him later.

But he asked for it again and the person gave it back to him.

She said she saw a group of boys including the accused get in a white Holden after Jayden had been stabbed, taking a knife with them.

“They took it with them, when I turned around I saw (the accused) carrying it and he jumped in the car.”

The witnesses’ evidence will continue to be played when the trial resumes on Tuesday, including the prerecorded cross examination from defence counsel Tim Ryan.

Originally published as Final moments of 17-year-old, Jayden Dau revealed by key witness in murder trial