‘Your hearts must be shattered’: shocked PM’s message to Royal Easter Show stab victim’s family

Police will step up their presence at the Sydney Royal Easter Show following the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old, with Premier Dominic Perrottet vowing to keep the “much-loved” event safe.

Premier Dominic Perrottet has vowed to keep the Easter Show a “much-loved family tradition”, describing Monday’s horror stabbing as a “terrible tragedy”.

It came as Police Commissioner Karen Webb said that ensuring young people avoid a life of crime is her “priority”, declaring that the police presence would be stepped up for the remainder of the show.

Mr Perrottet said the perpetrators of the shocking violence “will be brought to justice”.

“I want to be clear, this violence is unacceptable. The perpetrators will be brought to justice and I expect the book to be thrown at them,” Mr Perrottet told The Daily Telegraph.

“The Easter Show is a much-loved family tradition and a highlight of the ­holiday calendar and the NSW government will do everything it can to keep it that way.”

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has vowed to preserve the Easter Show tradition. Picture NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

The comments will come as a relief to parents and would-be show-goers concerned about their safety following the fatal brawl.

“What happened at the Easter Show was a terrible tragedy and our thoughts are with the family of the young man who lost his life,” Mr Perrottet said.

Policing at the family ­calendar staple will now be increased for the duration of the show.

Ms Webb said she was saddened by the fatal violence and sent her condolences “to the families of those impacted, including the innocent people who witnessed the event”.

Homicide detectives and crime scene investigators remained at the scene on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

She said tackling youth crime would take an “all of community approach” and said NSW Police would continue its work to “ensure the leaders of tomorrow have every opportunity to follow the right path”.

“There will be an increased police presence at the Royal Easter Show for the remainder of the event,” she said

Police Minister Paul Toole declared he had “zero tolerance” for dangerous behaviour, ”especially at a family-friendly event”.

“Carrying any kind of weapon is unacceptable, and we are taking this incident extremely seriously,” Mr Toole said.

“I have zero tolerance for this type of dangerous behaviour, especially at a family-friendly event like the Sydney Royal Easter Show. My heart goes out to the family and friends of the victim, as well as those innocent bystanders who witnessed the tragic event.”

Commissioner Karen Webb has pledged an increased police presence for the remainder of the show. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

Police Minister Paul Toole described the violence as “unacceptable”. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

“I never thought I would see the day when the Royal Easter Show would feature a fatal stabbing,” shadow police minister Walt Secord said.

“The show is for families. fun, cute animals and show bags – not switch blades. It’s where people from the bush compete and showcase their skills to city kids.

“If you want to play gangster go somewhere else.

“Sadly the families and children that witnessed the violence will never forget this dark evening.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he was left “distressed” by the shocking stabbing death of a teenage boy during a brawl at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

The stabbing is just the latest incident of teenage violence to rock Sydney’s west.

Mr Morrison is spending Tuesday on the campaign trail in Parramatta and when asked about the incident said it had left him “distressed”.

Mr Morrison also said his “heart goes out” to the family of the young boy killed.

“I am deeply distressed about this terrible incident at the Royal Easter Show,” he said.

“All our kids are going to be going to the Royal Easter Show, my kids are going to be going to the Royal Easter Show.

“We want them to be safe and this is a very distressing event, I have no doubt the NSW Police Force are moving very quickly and are ensuring they are doing everything in their power to make sure the Royal Easter Show is safe.

‘Distressed’ … Prime Minister Scott Morrison on the campaign trail in Parramatta today. Picture: Jason Edwards

Image captures youth at the scene with a knife.

“I would say to the family who have lost their son: My heart goes out to you, your hearts just must be shattered.”

Superintendent Danielle Emerton said: “We believe that there is someone we still need to identify who is responsible for the stabbing. It may be one person (or) it could be a number of people.

“We are looking for additional people involved in last night’s attack.”

Friends rush to the teen victim’s aid.

A police officer arrests youth at the scene.

“We’ve got our forensic team still analysing the scene, and so we’ve had to close down the main carnival area including the rides today and we anticipate that that area will be open again by tomorrow.”

“We know that there was a knife involved. At least one knife.”

“We have been working for months with the Royal Agricultural Show Society to establish a large police and security presence. We acknowledge that this is a concerning event and we will increase the level of police response.”

A showgoer captured vision of emergency responders performing CPR on the teenaged stabbing victim.

“I believe that it’s still a very safe family environment. The police are around in force, and we do have a large presence. This has a lot to do with personal responsibility of people actually bringing knives to a family event. It’s unacceptable and it’s resulted in the traffic loss of a 17-year-old young man.”

“There are some pro-screen metal detectors at the entrances of the show, however this isn’t a failsafe measure. We need to be cracking down on those people who think that it’s okay to bring knives into a show like this.”