Friends, family of slain cop Brevet Sgt Jason Doig confront killer Jaydn Stimson as he is detained for life
A country cop who watched his colleague die in his arms has confronted his friend’s killer, and revealed he had known the young man since he was just five years old.
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A country cop who watched his colleague die in his arms has confronted his friend’s killer, and revealed he had known the young man since he was just five years old.
Dozens of police officers and family of Brevet Sgt. Doig filled the South Australian Supreme Court on Tuesday morning to tell the country cop’s killer he severe impact his loss has had not only on them, but the community he served in.
Reliving the day in 2023 that he lost his colleague at the hands of Jaydn Stimson, Sergeant Michael Hutchinson said he wished he would never see the young man again.
“I have known you since the age of five. I know your family. I’ve helped you through several personal issues. You used to come to the Bordertown Youth Centre, which I was involved in,” Sergeant Hutchinson said.
“The last time I spoke to you was when you came to the Bordertown Police Station, and I gave you some assistance with a legal matter.
“In all the time I have known you, we have never had a cross word between us, our interactions were always cordial and polite.”
Sergeant Hutchinson, who has been a police officer for 39 years, said that on the day he was shot, Stimson had been in a fight with his brother, and left his home before returning to collect his firearms.
When he returned home, his brother and father were not there, and he shot his brother’s dog.
“I honestly believe that if your brother and father were home, you would have used your firearms on them and they may have been murdered,” he said.
“We attended your house to check on your welfare. Jason and I were searching for you, and you ambushed us. You shot me twice and you murdered my partner Jason. I received two gunshot wounds, one to my torso, one to my head.
“Despite all my efforts to save Jason, he died in my arms. The guilt that I carry that Jason died on my watch is something I will live with for the rest of my life. To see what I had to see, and to do what I had to do that night will be with me until the day that I die.
“I don’t hate you. I will not be a victim to anger and hate. You are nothing to me now. Goodbye, and I hope I never see you again.”
Stimson, now 27 from Senior in the state’s southeast, has been found not guilty of murder and attempted murder by way of mental incompetence.
His lawyer, Andrew Graham, on Tuesday told Justice Sandi McDonald that his client was living with undiagnosed schizophrenia at the time, and has since been diagnosed and is receiving treatment at James Nash House - a forensic mental health facility.
Senior Constable Rebekah Cass, who attended the property alongside Sgt Hutchinson and Brevet Sgt Doig, told the court she was inside the Stimson’s house when she heard gunshots.
“I had no idea where the sound was coming from, where my colleagues were.”
She said she moved to the next room, only to find a body on the ground - “a scene that will haunt me for the rest of my life”.
“Sergeant Hutchinson was hunched over saying he had been shot. I saw that the body on the ground was Jason. He was still alive, struggling to breathe. There was blood - so much blood.
“I applied pressure on the wound, but the blood was pouring out over my hands. I said over and over ‘I’m here, I’ve got you, you’re not going anywhere, help is on the way”.
She said that she then realised he had stopped breathing.
“He was gone. Murdered by a man who knew what he was doing, a man - I have no other words to say, other than to call a monster.
“Your actions tore through that community like a storm. You left a small town grieving. You’ve never apologised, nor taken responsibility. You’ve never said sorry, and that silence, it’s deafening.
“How is it possible that someone who was hearing voices detached from reality could legally carry a firearm, and used it with the intention to kill.”
Faye Edwards, Brevet Sgt Doig’s mother, through her impact statement told the court she would never be able to forget her son, or the tragic way his life was ended.
“My world was torn apart. Since that moment, I have lived every day with pain I cannot describe, a deep unrelenting sorrow that never goes away.
“No parent should ever have to bury their child and yet that is the reality that you have forced upon me and his family.
“Jason was not just my son, he was full of life, potential and love.
He was kind, funny, very generous with his time and money. He had dreams for retirement and the future - a future you stole from him in an instant.
“He will never grow older, never experience the life he deserved, and I will never again hear his voice, see his smile or feel his embrace.
“He was my son, and he mattered.’
Justice McDonald set a limiting term of life in detention, meaning Stimson will remain in James Nash House indefinitely, until the court orders otherwise.
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Originally published as Friends, family of slain cop Brevet Sgt Jason Doig confront killer Jaydn Stimson as he is detained for life
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