Jayden Dau murder trial: Witness identifies defendant as boy she says stabbed 17yo

A young woman has identified the defendant in a murder trial as the boy she believed fatally stabbed 17-year-old Jayden Dau at a party in Far North Queensland.

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.

A young woman has identified the defendant in a murder trial as the boy she believes fatally stabbed 17-year-old Jayden Dau in a police photo board interview played to a Supreme Court jury.

But she has faced stiff cross examination from a lawyer for the defence.

The young woman was present in court to provide her evidence in the trial of a young teenager who is accused of the stabbing murder of Jayden Dau, when the boy was just 14-years-old, at a New Years party in Manoora in 2022.

The accused has pleaded not guilty to the charge and the trial has now begun its second week.

The prosecution asked her about the fight she saw that night and asked her to describe what she saw.

She told the court she could hear a commotion out the front of the house and went to see what was happening.

“I could hear someone yell ‘get the little c***,” she said.

She said she saw a large group of boys with “Jayden in the middle”.

“He started running but he didn’t get far.”

She told the court she saw a boy run around the group and jump up and bring his hand down what she believed to be Jayden’s head.

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

“He fell and he was laying on the ground. I’m not sure what happened to him after that.”

She said she saw “a glimpse of the knife” and described a boy in a black shirt, wearing a bum bag.

Earlier in the trial other witnesses have described the parts of the fight they saw with others either not seeing Jayden during the brawl or seeing him with one other boy off to the side before he was injured.

No others have described a boy jumping and bringing a knife down on Jayden.

During her evidence the prosecution played a police photo board interview where she identified a boy she believed stabbed Jayden.

“He did it, he’s the one who stabbed him,” she said in the recorded police interview.

“I’m sure it was him.”

After her testimony the court was read a statement of facts agreed to by the defence and prosecution that confirmed the image selected by the witness was the defendant.

The defendant’s counsel Tim Ryan strongly cross-examined the witness, asking her how much she had to drink and about the darkness of the street in which the fight occurred.

She confirmed she had been playing beer pong and had drunk approximately a ten pack of bourbon and cola and a number of cider stubbies, but said “I wasn’t that drunk”.

The scene of a fatal stabbing of Jayden Dau at a house party in Lychee Close, Manoora, on New Year’s Day, 2022. Picture: Brendan Radke

Mr Ryan asked if she had spoken to her friends about what had happened that night including what the boy looked like before attending the police interview.

The witness initially said she hadn't, but after being pressed by Mr Ryan, admitted they had spoken about the night.

Mr Ryan took her to previous testimony provided during the committal phase of the legal proceeding in which she said she couldn’t see the boy’s face and confirmed that is what she had said previously.

She said she picked the photo of the boy based on what she saw and said he “was the only one who looked like that at the party”.

Mr Ryan asked if she could be mistaken to which she responded: “I did see him.”

The court also heard evidence from DNA expert, Jacquelin Wilson, who examined samples collected from the scene and samples taken from nine individuals present at the party.

She confirmed that testing of blood samples found on the road of Lychee Street found matches to Jayden Dau and a second boy who was stabbed with a glass bottle.

Ms Wilson also testified DNA testing of a blood stain on the door of the Holden Calais, identified as being at the scene, matched the defendant.

The defence will commence their closing arguments when the trial resumes Tuesday.

Originally published as Jayden Dau murder trial: Witness identifies defendant as boy she says stabbed 17yo