Teenager beaten to death in Borroloola remembered as ‘fine young man’

A TEENAGER beaten to death in Borroloola two Christmases ago will be remembered as ‘a fine young man who had so much potential’, the Supreme Court has heard.

Anthony Johnston, 19, has been remembered as ‘a fine young man’.

• Trio plead guilty to beating teen to death in Borroloola three days before Christmas
• Three men to stand trial for the alleged murder of a Territory teenager

A TEENAGER beaten to death in Borroloola two Christmases ago will be remembered as “a fine young man who had so much potential”, the Supreme Court has heard.

Bevan O’Keefe, 25, Kurt Ellis, 28 and Adam Noble, 25, this week pleaded guilty to engaging in a violent act that caused the death of 19-year-old Anthony Johnston in December 2018.

In a victim impact statement submitted to the court, Mr Johnston’s aunty said the loss of a child was not finite but “a continuous loss that unfolds minute by minute over the course of a lifetime”.

“There will never come a time when we won’t think who Anthony would be what he would look like and how he would be woven perfectly into the tapestry of our family,” she wrote.

“I wish people could understand that grief lasts forever because love lasts forever.’

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In jailing the three men for four years and 10 months — suspended after 22 months — Justice Judith Kelly said the trio was not charged with murder or manslaughter because they didn’t mean to kill Mr Johnston and the sentence did not reflect the value the court placed on his life.

“It is clear that this young man’s death has had a devastating effect on his family,” she said.

“Anthony died on Christmas Day, one can only try to imagine what a terrible day that must have been for his family and how they must think about what happened every year at Christmas.”

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Ellis will serve an additional two months in jail after also pleading guilty to burgling the Heartbreak Hotel on the same night.