Accused teen bailed over Watergardens Shopping Centre stabbing

The mother of a boy charged with stabbing a drug dealer metres from a kids playground has tearfully told her son in court: “I never teach you to do this.”

The mother of a boy, 14, charged with stabbing a drug dealer metres from a shopping centre playground has tearfully told her son in court: “I never teach you to do this.”

The youngest of five boys charged over a near-fatal attack at Watergardens Shopping Centre has been granted bail despite a magistrate expressing his “real concerns” over the “frightening” incident, which was captured on CCTV and occurred outside a children’s play area.

It comes after the boy’s mother wiped away tears as she told a children’s court, “(he) doesn’t know how I feel as a mum”.

“I never teach you to do this, I never,” she said on Friday.

The court heard how the five boys, aged 14 to 17, were approached at the shopping centre by two men, aged 19 and 24, offering to sell them Xanax, about 6pm on Wednesday.

Agreeing to meet in the public toilets where the boys were offered three tablets for $15, the court heard a fight broke out and knife produced as one of the younger boys yelled, “Give me your f***ing Xannies now, all of them” before the tablets were taken.

The brawl spilled out into the “highly saturated” Taylors Lakes shopping centre filled with families buying Christmas gifts.

Police were called to Watergardens shopping centre in Taylors Lakes on Wednesday to reports a young male had been stabbed. Picture: Rebecca Borg.

According to a summary read to the court, the younger boys fled and the drug dealers ran after them to “retrieve their property”, with the 24-year-old seen grabbing the 14-year-old in a headlock in the courtyard outside the restaurants.

It was here that the 19-year-old stepped in to help his dealer mate, before he was allegedly stabbed by the boy in the upper left chest.

He stumbled to a nearby seating area as two women with their children — off duty nurses — rushed to help.

The boy ran after his mates to the train station, where he was allegedly arrested with the bloody knife.

The boy’s mother recounted how she received a call from a private number while she was at work, alerting her to her son’s arrest.

She lamented that there was “no one to look after this kid after school”.

“We all work, you know, we all work to support our family,” she said.

“I don’t want to work anymore.”

The boy wiped away tears as his mum returned to her seat in the body of the court after giving evidence.

A magistrate expressed concern over the frightening incident, which happened metres from a children’s play area.

In granting bail to the boy, who has no priors, the magistrate said he had a “very loving, very supportive, very protective mother” who had “placed the blame of the allegations on herself, and it’s not about her”.

His Honour said she’d done “more than you can” as a single parent, whose husband had recently died.

But he said it was “worrying this incident happened at 6pm – it’s daylight – the offending is very serious” and that the prosecution had an “exceptionally strong case”.

“You will lose your son if he continues down this path,” he said.

The boy has been ordered to abide by a curfew, stay away from his co-accused and banned from going to Watergardens Shopping Centre unless in the presence of a guardian.

His bail came despite police objections due to the “brazen nature” of the alleged crime, that was “so close to so many children and families, in broad daylight”.

Meanwhile, police were still searching for footage filmed by members of the public, with CCTV showing people had captured crucial evidence on their phones.

The boy, facing charges of intentionally causing serious injury and affray, will return to a children’s court along with his co-accused in January.

The victim, who had been suffering life threatening injuries, was no longer critical, with his condition downgraded to stable on Friday.