Friends of Easter Show stabbing victim claim arrested teen was his relative, who tried to defend him

Friends of the Easter Show stabbing victim have claimed the 15-year-old boy arrested after the brawl was actually there to protect his relative.

A smirking teenager who was arrested after a deadly brawl at the Sydney Royal Easter Show was the victim’s relative, distraught friends have claimed.

The 15-year-old boy, who can’t be named, was charged with affray and carrying a knife on Tuesday after his dramatic arrest in front of shocked onlookers after 8pm on Monday night.

Moments earlier, police said two groups of males met at the ‘adult Carnival’ section of the Show and started brawling.

A 17-year-old suffered fatal stab wounds to his chest in the confrontation and died on the way to hospital, while a 16-year-old boy remains in Westmead Hospital in a stable condition after being stabbed in the leg.

Disturbing footage shared online in the aftermath of the stabbing showed a teen, understood to be the victim’s relative, sitting on the floor in handcuffs after being arrested.

A police spokesman confirmed to news.com.au the arrested teen and victim were related.

Friends have now spoken out about the clip to ”set the record straight”, claiming the boy was trying to protect his relative as he lay bleeding to death.

Friends of a teenager who was stabbed to death at the Easter Show have claimed a boy, 15, pictured being arrested after was his relative who had tried to defend him

One colleague who was working with the teenage victim at the Easter Show’s Break Dance ride on the day he was fatally stabbed took to TikTok in a since-deleted video on Tuesday.

He argued against false rumours the arrested boy was involved in the teenager’s death.

“The guy you see wearing all black, that’s his [the victim’s relative],” the carnival worker claimed.

Another friend also took to TikTok after seeing commentary suggesting the 15-year-old boy had something to do with the teen’s death.

She said it was wrong that people were “saying the 15-year-old stabbed his (relative) when he didn’t”.

“He [the 15-year-old] was there helping his (relative) , who was trying to fight for his life at the scene because he had just been stabbed in the heart,” she said.

The 15-year-old boy was arrested nearby a short time after the brawl, which unfolded in front of a crowd of show-goers. He was allegedly in possession of a knife at the time.

He was taken to Auburn Police Station and charged with affray, armed with intent to commit indictable offence, and custody of knife in public place.

No other arrests have been made, with police confirming on Tuesday the assailant remained at large.

Detectives told reporters they are yet to formally identify a suspect and are investigating multiple theories as to what sparked the fight, but do not believe it was a “random attack”.

Commander of the Auburn Police Area Command, Superintendent Danielle Emerton, said it was possible the attack was motivated by or linked to conflict within postcode gangs, or an internal dispute between groups.

Violent theory behind Easter Show death

Supt. Emerton said while there were major questions lingering over the boy’s death, detectives believed it was “not a random attack”, and instead was the result of a planned confrontation between “two groups of male youths”.

“We believe there is someone we still need to identify that is responsible for the stabbing,” she said. “It may be one person, it may be a number of people.

“There were two groups involved in the affray incident where there was a knife involved. so we are looking at additional people that were involved in last night’s attack,” she said.

Authorities are also investigating the potential additional people were involved, and appealed to the public to share any footage that may aid the investigation.

Supt. Emerton said officers believe a member of the public knows the assailant.

“The information we have at the moment is just in its early stages. We know that someone knows who has done this,” she said. “We are looking at all lines of inquiry.”

“We believe there were two groups of men that met each other at the show and they had a confrontation.

“Tragically, a 17-year-old youth has died.”

Superintendent Danielle Emerton called on acquaintances of the assailant to contact police. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Damian Shaw

Forensics on Tuesday dusted bins for prints near where the teen was stabbed. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Damian Shaw

Currently, police have recovered one knife and are investigating whether any additional weapons were involved.

General Manager of the Sydney Royal Easter Show, Muray Wilton, was also quizzed on whether there needed to be more security and police presence at the show.

This is the second year an attack involving a knife has broken out at Royal Easter Show.

Last year a brawl involving up to 20 people also occurred, with police discovering a knife in nearby parkland after the fight.

Although show organisers will be working with NSW Police to put in place tougher security measures, Mr Wilton said it was impossible to conduct bag checks on every patron.

A teen was arrested after the brawl.

The victim had been at work the night he was killed.

“We are trying to do everything we possibly can. Out of 3000 people, a small number of people decided to do the wrong thing,” he said.

Superintendent Emerton added there are trace metal detectors at the property and “guaranteed” there would be a “huge police presence” for the remainder of the show.

Teen remembered as ‘so nice’

Tributes have flooded social media in the wake of the teenager’s death, with show-goers offering condolences to the teen, who many said had earlier been “so nice” to them.

“Prayers out to his family, he was so nice he made sure I was all and all locked in,” one wrote.

“He was the one that came and unlocked my bar because it was stuck,” another said.

“No way that’s him, he was such a nice guy. I just got chills because he helped me on that ride an hour before, gone too soon. May he Rest In Peace,” a third said.

An Easter Show colleague also paid tribute to the late teen in the caption of a TikTok video that showed him watching the ride he was employed to help operate.

“Was a blessing working with you … rest in love young soldier,” he wrote.

Relatives have also taken to social media to express their grief, with a woman understood to be the boy’s aunty paying tribute to him Monday evening.

“Aw my neffy! May you rest peacefully. Love you. All my love to your mum and siblings and the rest of our family. I pray for peace, love and forgiveness in Jesus’ mighty name,” she wrote to Facebook.

A cousin of the teen wrote: “Too soon! Love you baby cousin”.

“Rest in love my cousin,” another said.

An investigation into the incident continues and police are appealing for anyone with information or vision of the incident, to come forward and contact police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.