Dubbo Show marred by fear as teenage boy held at knifepoint, ‘stab list’ spread on social media

A teenage boy had a knife held to his throat and a “stab list” of 20 targets was circulated through the state’s Central West over the weekend, sending Dubbo residents into panic and forcing people to avoid the show for safety fears.

A Facebook post by Orana Mid-Western Police District regarding the Dubbo Show.

A teenage boy had a knife held to his throat and a “stab list” of 20 targets was circulated through the state’s Central West over the weekend, sending Dubbo residents into panic and forcing people to avoid the city’s show for safety fears.

The attack on the 16-year-old boy who was at the Dubbo Show with his family on Friday night came hours before an anonymous threat was made to a list of children, some as young as eight, warning they would be knifed if they attended the event.

The two incidents prompted police to urgently bolster resources and issue a safety alert to the region already under siege by out of control youth crime.

Two boys, aged 11 and 12, handed themselves in to police on Saturday and admitted creating the hoax list titled “2024 stab”.

List of names of real people who were threatened to be stabbed if they went to the Dubbo Show.

A NSW Police spokesperson said the pair would be dealt with under the Young Offenders Act. It is not suggested they were involved in the incident involving the 16-year-old boy.

But the admission wasn’t enough to quell the fears of the community which is already on edge by knife crime.

Facebook post discussing the list of real names of people that were threatened to be stabbed.

“You can’t joke about things like that in this climate,” one parent said. “I wasn’t taking a risk, so we just stayed away”.

The mother of the teen who was robbed at knifepoint said her son had been left traumatised and she was too anxious to be identified for fear of retribution to herself or family.

But she begged the NSW government to expedite the proposed “Jack’s Law” powers which will allow police to wand or scan people for knives in designated areas.

“The crime has gotten so bad. These three individuals that held my son up are very dangerous,” the mother told The Daily Telegraph.

“All my son wanted was to enjoy the show with his friends and it was ruined by these people who just keep getting away with harassment and threats towards kids. It is sickening.”

The list was shared thousands of times on social media and in community groups in nearby towns of Orange, Wellington and Cowra.

The Dubbo Show was held over the weekend. Picture: Snapchat

Dubbo MP and NSW Nationals leader Dugald Saunders said the incidents on the first night of the three-day show had caused a lot of angst in the town which is already struggling with surging crime.

“The police were very proactive as a result of both incidents, they had a very significant presence on Saturday ... and they gave ban notices to a few kids they knew might be trouble makers,” Mr Saunders said.

Dubbo’s chief cop Superintendent Tim Chinn. Picture: Rohan Kelly

He said he’d spoken to Dubbo’s chief cop Superintendent Tim Chinn who said police will go into schools from today educating kids on the consequences of things like online pranks.

Mr Saunders said the knife attack on the teenage boy highlighted the need for the proposed Jack’s Law legislation to be widened so that it was not limited to only areas where knife crime had occurred within the previous six months.

“There needs to be a push to amend it so that police can scan anytime, anywhere ... not just in places where there has been a previous incident,” Mr Saunders said.

Jack’s Law was introduced by the Queensland government after 17-year-old Jack Beasley was killed in 2019.

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