Keith Kerinaiua’s family on Declan Laverty bottleshop’s death

The father of a teenager accused of stabbing Declan Laverty said Indigenous kids were generally disillusioned and acting out from repeated encounters with the ‘racist system’.

The father of a teenager accused of stabbing a 20-year-old bottle shop worker to death said his son was just another victim of a “racist system” that caused young Indigenous kids to lose hope in their futures.

Without prejudging the case before the court, the family of Keith Kerinaiua shared their story a week after the 19-year-old allegedly stabbed Declan Laverty to death at the Darwin bottle shop.

His grandmother, who asked not to be named, told The Australian that the young man was left neglected and starving in the Tiwi Islands before he moved to Darwin as a toddler.

His grandmother said she had been the primary caregiver since he was two, with her grandson diagnosed with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and ADHD.

“(He was) getting neglected and not getting fed and always starving,” she said.

“When he was growing up, he always asked me ‘Why doesn’t my mother love me?’.

“I couldn’t really answer it, I could never answer it properly.”

She told The Australian her grandson only started drinking at 17, and that fateful night was the first time he was out late in months.

“He was just hanging around the wrong crowd, I suppose. He’s one of those boys where he’s very easily led.”

Declan Laverty, 20, was allegedly stabbed to death at The Airport Tavern in Darwin about 9pm Sunday, March 19, 2023. Picture: Facebook

His father Fabian Clarke said he felt immense guilt for Mr Laverty’s death, having left a blade in the car.

Mr Clarke said he was a knife collector, and had left the blade behind after sharpening it the day before.

“It’s my fault that the young fella’s dead,” Mr Clarke said.

“If the knife wasn’t in the car, the young fella wouldn’t have got stabbed, and I put it there.”

Mr Clarke said Indigenous kids were being lost and disillusioned by their encounters with the “racist system”.

“Mum was in the Stolen Generations, my grandmother was in the Stolen Generations, then we’ve got to deal with the f—king racism and all that shit,” he said.

“Whatever they do, whenever they try to move forward, they ­always get pushed back, no matter whatever they do.

“That’s why all the kids are running amok, they just sick of the f—king racism, that’s what it is,” he said.

The Darwin community is paying its respects to 20-year-old bottleshop worker Declan Laverty after he was allegedly stabbed to death about 9pm Sunday, March 19. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The construction worker said in his own life everyday choices, like going to work or the shops, could bring him face-to-face with racist attitudes.

“We go down to the shops, we get followed around as if we’re going to steal,” he said.

“This happens all our lives, walk through the neighbourhood, people looking at us (as if we’re) going to break into their houses.”

Mr Clarke said he feared the weight of the crime angst would fall on his son, who would be made an example of by the courts.

“With all the shit going on in Alice Springs and everything else, they need to blame somebody for something,” he said.

Keith Kerinaiua was on bail after being charged with aggravated assault with a weapon, for allegedly stealing a bag, watch and hat.

Under his bail conditions the 19-year-old had to report to police daily, was barred from the Darwin CBD, and faced a 9am to 7am curfew to his father and grandmother’s home.

Mr Clarke said he and his son “talked about his ­future”, and the teenager was doing a concreting course and wanted to do an apprenticeship.

Originally published as Keith Kerinaiua’s family on Declan Laverty bottleshop’s death