Gold Coast stabbing: Former elite school student accused in ‘drug deal gone wrong’

A man accused of a brutal daylight stabbing murder in a Gold Coast car park in what police allege was a botched drug deal is a former student at one of Queensland’s most prestigious private schools.

• Haunting video emerges of 21yo stabbing victim

A man accused of a brutal daylight stabbing murder in a Gold Coast car park in what police allege was a botched drug deal is a former student at one of Queensland’s most prestigious private schools.

Ipswich Grammar School graduate Haedyn Rawson, 23, of Redbank Plains, has been charged with murdering 21-year-old Gold Coast man Will Swinbourne in a carpark confrontation beneath the Gold Coast Radiology building at Hope Island on Monday afternoon.

Police allege the two men met at a concert starring British DJ Fred Again on the Southport Spit on Saturday night.

They allege Mr Swinbourne drove to Hope Island for a drug deal with Rawson but was instead fatally stabbed in the chest.

Rawson was arrested after a massive manhunt during which he allegedly fled on foot through the golf course at nearby Sanctuary Cove.

The exclusive gated estate was locked down during the drama as police combed streets, golf course fairways and surrounding waterways for the alleged killer, searching all vehicles entering and leaving.

Haedyn Rawson was an Ipswich Grammar School student

A 23-year-old Surfers Paradise man who had been drinking with Rawson at a tavern next to the radiology clinic before the stabbing was also arrested after giving himself up to police, but was released without charge.

Facebook posts reveal Rawson, who sports a large neck tattoo, graduated from Ipswich Grammar in 2018.

Photos show him and fellow students posing outside the gates of Kensington Palace during a visit to London in 2017.

Rawson appeared briefly in Southport Magistrates Court on Tuesday, with his case adjourned until March 26.

Detective Inspector Mark Mooney, of Gold Coast CIB, said police would allege Mr Swinbourne and Rawson met for the first time at the Spit concert and Mr Swinbourne went to Hope Island to supply a small quantity of drugs, only to be stabbed.

“It’s (the stabbing) happened very quickly – my understanding is the victim had only just arrived,” Det Insp Mooney said.

He “categorically” ruled out bikie links.

Stabbing victim Will Swinbourne with partner Kaysie Tooth

Det Insp Mooney said a carving knife had been seized as part of police investigations.

“It’s very concerning behaviour – anyone who takes a knife anywhere is asking for trouble,” he said.

“We ask people to leave their knives at home – they don’t need them. Society’s not that dangerous that you need a knife to protect yourself.

“You take a knife to an incident like this and this is the possible consequences of that.

“It’s devastating for the families involved. You’ve got two families of young men, both of whose lives are now ruined – one no longer with us and one who possibly will be spending a very long time in prison.

“It’s really devastating that this is still occurring in our community.”

Mr Swinbourne played reserve grade for the Currumbin Eagles rugby league club on the southern Gold Coast and his coach, Jayde Batchelor, said he was “an absolutely champion fella” on and off the field.

“It’s such a tragedy – it’s really rattled us,” he said.

Mr Batchelor said Mr Swinbourne had played for the Eagles for about three seasons as a hard-running forward but was plagued by injury.

“He played that tough his body was kind of hanging together by a string, but that didn’t deter him,” he said.

The scene of the stabbing on Monday. Picture: Scott Powick

“When he was on the field, he was one of those players that you really want to get behind.

He’d really lead the way for us. The team went well when he was going well.

“While I was coaching, he was definitely the heartbeat of the team.”

Mr Batchelor said Mr Swinbourne “always had a smile on his face”.

“He’d always be laughing and carrying on at training,” he said.

“He wasn’t always the best trainer. It was a bit of an inside joke with the boys that he’d always be cramping at training but then he’d pump out a 70-minute game and you’d wonder where that came from. He definitely had the talent and the tenacity to play A-grade.”

Mr Batchelor said the club would no doubt organise a tribute to Mr Swinbourne, including wearing black armbands in a trial game this weekend.

Mr Swinbourne’s girlfriend Kaysie Tooth took to Instagram to post a tribute.

“I love you to the moon and back, in this life and the next and every one after that,” she wrote with a photo of the two of them kissing passionately.

“Forever looking at photos of you my love,” Ms Tooth wrote.

Mr Swinbourne’s friends also posted Instagram tributes to their much-loved mate “Swina”.

“RIP Swina … sick world we live in,” Mr Swinbourne’s close friend Fletcher Bruggy wrote.

Mr Swinbourne previously attended Marymount College at Burleigh Waters on the Gold Coast and was currently enrolled at Griffith University, according to his social media accounts.

Originally published as Gold Coast stabbing: Former elite school student accused in ‘drug deal gone wrong’