Whalan: 18-year-old charged with murder after triple stabbing in Sydney’s west

Three men have been charged over a fight about rent, playstation and a cat which left one man dead and his son fighting for life in Sydney’s western suburbs.

Three men have been charged after a fight which police say was over unpaid rent, a playstation and who owns a cat left one man dead and his son fighting for life in a wild brawl in Sydney’s western suburbs.

Matthew Smale, aged 40, died after being stabbed in the neck when more than a dozen people arranged to meet on Wednesday night in a park at Whalan — where two people were going to have a fight.

Instead of a one-on-one contest as was planned, police say the situation turned into an out of control melee where at least three people were injured after a knife was used.

The man’s 19-year-old son Jaiden was stabbed in the chest and is in a critical condition while his 25-year-old uncle was also knifed and now in a serious condition.

Emergency services at the scene. Picture: TNV

A friend of the three stabbed men then jumped into a ute and tried to run over members of the opposing side but lost control of the vehicle which flipped onto its roof.

The driver and two females who were inside the ute at the time were able to get out of the upturned vehicle unharmed.

Police cordon off the scene of the crime. Picture: TNV

Police have charged an 18-year-old man with murder, two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and affray.

A second man, 19, has been charged with affray and a third, also 19, has been charged with affray and accessory after the fact to murder.

All three were refused bail to appear in court on Friday.

“It’s a trivial and senseless act,” Detective Chief Inspector Paul Tickner said.

“It’s escalated to a point where it’s just ridiculous that a person’s lost their life, two people are in hospital — one’s still fighting for their life — over a dispute over not paying rent and some property that was taken in retribution for it,’’ he said.

Police said there were up to 15 people present during the bloodbath at Whalan Reserve which erupted at about 7.30pm.

“The two parties involved used to live together and there’s been a bit of a falling out over the last few days,” Det Chief Insp Tickner said.

“As a result of that some property was taken from the unit where they were living at Kingswood and on social media they’d been having a bit of a go at each other and arranged to have a fight last night.”

Police are scouring the area looking for the knife used in the fight as well as any other evidence which may be at the scene.