Children sentenced for Jason Galleghan’s bashing death
Two children who participated in a teenage boy’s horrific fatal bashing alongside multiple postcode gang members in Sydney’s west expressed their intense regret as they learned their fates.
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Two distressingly young children who joined in the savage fatal bashing of a tragic Sydney teen expressed their remorse before they were jailed.
Jason Galleghan was just 16 when he was lured to Kayla Dawson’s Doonside home on August 4, 2021 and bashed over allegations he had stolen her AirPods.
A savage 33-minute long assault, part of which was filmed and posted to social media, resulted in severe injuries and the tragic teen died in hospital two days later.
The horrific fatal attack was carried out by multiple people associated with a Doonside and Mt Druitt-based postcode gang, with Jason ordered to repeat gang-related phrases on camera.
The youngest child involved pleaded guilty to manslaughter after the Crown accepted he had not helped plan the bashing, and had attempted to help Jason after the attack.
He will spend at least four years and three months in juvenile prison.
The second youngest child pleaded guilty to murder, after footage of the sickening incident showed him repeatedly stomping on Jason and kicking him in the head.
He will spend at least nine years and three months behind bars, with his sentence to be served in juvenile jail until he turns 21 and in an adult prison thereafter.
Justice Robert Hulme said the pair – who were appallingly young when they participated in the fatal bashing – had initially intended to fight the charges under the “doli incapax” defence.
In NSW, children can be found not guilty of crimes if it can be demonstrated they lacked an understanding of the difference between right and wrong when they committed the offence.
At the last minute, the youngest child pleaded guilty to manslaughter after receiving further brief materials from the Crown.
The second youngest child pleaded guilty to murder after insisting he wanted to take responsibility for his actions.
“He said ‘I feel guilty about what I did, I want justice for the victim’s family’,” Justice Hulme said of the child who pleaded guilty to murder.
“He said ‘I can’t forgive myself for what happened, thinking about the family, I hate it’.”
In the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday, Justice Hulme gave a distressing summary of both children’s young lives, and the trauma, deprivation and suffering they had experienced prior to their appalling involvement in Jason’s death.
“(The child who pleaded guilty to manslaughter)’s story is one of disconnection, isolation and loneliness,” Justice Hulme said.
“He has experienced serious neglect, trauma, violence and transience.”
The child had bounced between foster homes, experienced cultural disconnection, and began consuming alcohol and cannabis when he was just 12.
“He said he feels like s--t because of his actions, that he had killed someone’s child, and said if he was sober his actions would have been 100 per cent different,” Justice Hulme said.
“He is reported as having identified the loss of a child as the primary impact (and said) he would apologise, stating he did not mean for it to go that far.”
Justice Hulme said the second youngest child was in an abusive and illegal sexual relationship with a 19-year-old woman when he participated in Jason’s murder – though the child did not see it as such.
He had also been exposed to domestic violence and mental health struggles in his family from a young age, and began using alcohol and cannabis aged just 10.
“Jason was punched, kicked and stomped on many times, including by (the child who pleaded guilty to murder),” Justice Hulme said.
“(Another alleged participant) yelled ‘a good kick to the face’, and (the second youngest child) then kicked his face with such force it jolted back and hit the gyprock wall.”
The second youngest child – a member of the postcode gang associated with Mt Druitt and Doonside – also stomped on Jason as he was forced to repeat gang-related phrases.
Justice Hulme acknowledged concerns the second youngest child had indicated an intention to continue associating with his old gang when he left custody, though not for the purposes of committing violence again.
“He has no regret about his decision (to plead guilty),” Justice Hulme said.
“He says the decision he made is an indication of how genuinely sorry he is for his conduct – he realises what he had done and the role he played in the death of Jason, and he feels very sorry for what he did.”
The youngest child who pleaded guilty to manslaughter was jailed for seven years and six months, with a non-parole period of four years and six months.
He will be eligible for parole on February 4, 2026 with time served.
The second youngest child who pleaded guilty to murder was jailed for 14 years and four months, with a non-parole period of nine years and three months.
With time served, he will be eligible for released on November 4, 2030.
Two older teens have already been jailed for murder in relation to their roles in Jason’s death.
Dawson, 19, and 33-year-old Richard Sione were recently found guilty of murder at trial by Justice Robert Hulme over their respective roles in the fatal assault and are now awaiting sentence.
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