Clyde North double murder brutal end to father, son’s violent past

A father and son stabbed to death at a child’s birthday party in Clyde North had a troubling history of violence that spanned two states.

• Tributes after two men stabbed to death at child’s birthday party

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains images and names of people who have died.

A father and son slain at a family gathering that erupted in violence had been trying to rebuild their lives after years of trouble with the law.

54-year-old Karl Dieter Gruber and his 23-year-old son, Karl Gruber-Terrick, were stabbed to death, likely at the hands of relatives or friends, as they gathered to celebrate a one-year-old child’s birthday in Melbourne’s southeast on Thursday night.

At least one close acquaintance at the celebration fatally slashed them when a wild brawl sparked inside a Clyde North home spilt onto the street.

The pair died from their injuries, laying lifeless on Observatory St for hours as homicide detectives began the painstaking work of piecing together which 20 family members and friends had been caught up in the fight, and which of those plunged an “edged weapon” into the men.

Karl Gruber-Terrick. Picture: Supplied

Police investigate the area around Observatory Rd at Clyde North after Karl Gruber and his son Karl Gruber-Terrick were fatally stabbed. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The police manhunt now underway for the one or more killers responsible for their deaths marks the latest tragic development in the father and son’s years-long history with authorities.

Despite the substantial criminal records the men had amassed, their murders sparked an outpouring of grief from shocked loved ones throughout the communities in which they lived, which spanned Bairnsdale, Lakes Entrance, Seaford and Darwin.

Karl Jnr has been remembered by friends as a young man taken “way too soon” who “everybody knew and loved”.

But the father and son, who were known to police here, had returned to Victoria in recent years following a string of violent offences up north.

A Northern Territory magistrate warned the younger Karl to immediately board a plane back to Victoria after he was sentenced for his role in an “unhinged” Christmas Eve group attack against a nightclub reveller in Darwin that left the victim with a traumatic brain injury in 2020.

A then 20-year-old Karl pleaded guilty to being involved in the “savage, prolonged and brutal” beating that unfolded in the northern capital’s CBD about 3.15am on December 24.

The Supreme Court heard that Gruber-Terrick chased after the victim as he tried to leave before the pair started throwing punches at one another.

Forensic specialists and police probing the Clyde North crime scene on Friday. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Blood could be seen outside the Observatory St home. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

One of Gruber-Terrick’s friends joined the assault, punching the victim “savagely and repeatedly as he lay defenceless on the ground”.

“Shamefully, you then stood over the victim and kicked him again in the head and punched him two more times to the stomach,” Chief Justice Grant said.

He said a pack of men and women then dragged the man down the road before one woman pulled off his shorts, exposing his genitalia.

“The victim was kicked, stomped, punched and slapped more than 50 times in a period of seven minutes by you and your co-offenders.

“You all acted with a common purpose to seriously assault the victim and you bear responsibility not only for your own conduct but also for the conduct of your co-offenders to a degree.”

Chief Justice Grant handed Gruber-Terrick a three-year jail sentence, which was suspended after 12 months.

He ordered Gruber-Terrick, who had been heavily intoxicated during the ordeal, to leave the Northern Territory upon his release on December 23 2021.

“Not only will you be able to be home by Christmas this year, you will have to be home by Christmas this year, because if you do not leave on the 23rd or the 24th I will have you arrested and taken back to prison,” Chief Justice Grant said.

Karl Gruber Jnr (left) and Karl Gruber Snr (right). Picture: Facebook

Meanwhile, Karl’s father had racked up a string of charges of his own.

In dramatic scenes, he was arrested outside a Darwin court while supporting his son during his court appearances in February 2021.

The elder Karl, then aged 50, pleaded guilty to nine counts of breaching an order for attending court to support his son.

Mr Gruber also pleaded guilty to stealing items out of a stranger’s shed and selling them at Cash Converters, stealing a pair of sneakers from someone’s front deck after they had been delivered by Australia Post and spitting in a police officer’s face.

Upon their return to Victoria, Karl Jnr immersed himself in local footy, becoming a “much loved” player at the Fitzroy Stars Football and Netball Club, where dozens of teammates have been shattered by their mate’s death.

“We are grieving to (sic) the sudden loss of one of our much loved playing members who was a true gentleman at our club, wore his heart on his sleeve and let his footy do the talking,” the club said online on Friday.

Janaya Johnson, a friend of Karl Jnr, said: “The communities he has grown up in are all still in shock about this sad situation as he was a young man taken way too soon”.

“He was very loved and will be missed dearly by everybody who knew and loved him.”

No arrests have been made over the deaths and homicide detectives have called on anyone with information to come forward.