The War: Young Blood – Bereft mothers’ plead: Put down your knives

There was no knock at the door by police. No sympathetic phone call. The message that tore a mum’s world apart came from a stranger on Facebook. “Are you Kane’s mum? Kane’s dead”.

The message was brief: “Kane’s dead”. There was no knock at the door by police, not even a sympathetic phone call.

Anna Reid was told her teenage son had died by a stranger who contacted her on Facebook.

“First I got a message saying ‘Are you Kane’s mum? … then I got ‘Kane’s dead’,” Ms Reid said.

Sadly, she’s not alone. Another mother Linda Pridham learnt about her son’s stabbing death from Snapchat.

“My other daughter rang to tell me because it was on Snapchat … she told me Lachlan had been stabbed and didn’t make it,” Ms Pridham said.

Linda Pridham, right, with her daughter Alecia Dopson (left). Linda's teenage son Lachlan Andrews was stabbed to death in a brawl in Casino earlier this year. Picture: News Corp

“There were videos of it and kids put it all over social media”.

The two mothers agreed to speak to The Daily Telegraph about their sons’ senseless deaths in the hope it might make someone think twice before committing a crime, and they begged youths to stop carrying knives.

Kane Apthorpe as a youngster with his mum, Anna.

Kane aged 10. He died at age 16, stabbed on a Swansea street on September 17, 2021.

Kane Apthorpe was just 16 when he was allegedly stabbed through the heart at Swansea and died, in September 2021. His mother Ms Reid said it was a minor disagreement that turned fatal.

Lachlan Andrews, 17, had turned his life around and was working as a tradie helping flood victims in Casino, in northern NSW, when he was allegedly stabbed to death in a deadly brawl.

“I don’t think they realise the consequences of their actions, to walk into something with a weapon, you need to realise what could happen,” Ms Pridham said.

Lachlan Andrews had turned his life around when he was allegedly stabbed to death in a deadly brawl. Picture: Supplied

Ms Pridham said gang violence was so prevalent nowadays, and carrying knives was considered the norm. “They are fighting in gangs now and they don’t realise what they’re doing … there’s so many lives ruined now,” Ms Pridham said.

“They are walking into it knowing what they are going to do … there didn’t use to be all these weapons, but they all carry them now.”

Both Ms Reid and Ms Pridham said social media, music and online gaming has created a violent society.

Rachel Galleghan knows too well what it’s like to lose a son to violence. Picture: Supplied

Jason Galleghan was just 16 when he was allegedly bashed to death at a home in Doonside. Picture: Supplied

“There’s an immunity to violence – games, music, movies … Everywhere you look there’s violence, there’s no escaping it,” Ms Reid said.

“But parents need to be accountable too … if you have a child it’s your responsibility to be involved.”

In a tragic twist, the day after Lachie’s funeral, Ms Pridham received a photo from Casino mother Julie Gronow showing her son Ned and a few of his friends watching the service online.

Less than three weeks later, Ned, 17, was stabbed to death while he slept in bed.

“Lachie and Ned were friends when Lachie moved up there (to Casino) … it’s just so chilling that happened to him just a few weeks after Lachie died,” Ms Pridham said.

Another mother who shares the same pain is Rachel Galleghan. Her boy Jason was just 16 when he was allegedly bashed to death at a home in Doonside, in Sydney’s west.

“It is just so utterly devastating and heartbreaking that his future has been taken away from him,” Ms Galleghan said after her son’s death.