Bagot teen killer jailed for up to six years over friend’s slaying

A teenager who stabbed ‘one of his closest friends’ in the heart will spend at least two years and four months in jail after pleading guilty to the other boy’s manslaughter.

• Teen who stabbed close friend in the heart in the Bagot Community pleads guilty to manslaughter

A TEENAGER who stabbed “one of his closest friends” in the heart will spend at least two years and four months in jail after pleading guilty to the other boy’s manslaughter.

The now 16-year-old, who cannot be named, was handed a head sentence of six years in jail in the Supreme Court on Friday.

Crown prosecutor Matt Nathan SC said the two boys had been walking around Darwin’s Bagot Aboriginal community after drinking and smoking cannabis in the lead up to the fatal stabbing on May 19 last year.

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“(A witness) observed the offender holding a knife in his right hand and saw him stab the victim to the centre of his chest using a backhand motion,” he said.

In sentencing, Chief Justice Michael Grant said the slain boy’s mother had told the court her grief at the loss of her son was “unbearable”.

Constance Puruntatameri says the pain of her son’s death is “unbearable”. Picture Katrina Bridgeford.

“She spends her waking hours in what she describes as an emotional wreck,” he said.

“She feels great anger towards the offender, she’s tried to get past that state of mind but has been unable to do so.”

Chief Justice Grant said the boy in the dock had a long history of contact with the criminal justice system since the age of 12 after being diagnosed with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

“The offender lived with his mother until the age of four and by that stage it had become apparent that that placement was unsustainable on the basis of limited parental supervision, unstable living arrangements, neglect, emotional and physical abuse and domestic and sexual violence in the household,” he said.

“The sad reality is that almost all of the Aboriginal youths that come into contact with the criminal justice system leading to appearances in this court have been subject to the awful trifecta of frank abuse or neglect from early childhood, disengagement from the education system and a prolonged history of poly-substance abuse.

“The offender meets all of those criteria and on top of that apparently has the added disadvantage of a significant and recognised neurological deficit.”

The boy will be eligible for parole in September next year.

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