Balin Stewart death trial: Michael Stewart reacts to manslaughter guilty verdict

Grieving Sunshine Coast dad Michael Stewart has opened up on his family’s permanent pain after a jury delivered its verdict in the trial of his teenage son’s killer.

Michael and Kerri-Lyn Stewart talk outside the Brisbane Supreme Court, after a teenager was found guilty of manslaughter for stabbing their son Balin outside his home on the Sunshine Coast .Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

Shell-shocked and numb are the words Michael Stewart uses to describe his family’s feelings after his teenage son’s killer was found guilty of manslaughter.

Nothing even close to joy would be felt by the much-loved Buddina family as the verdict for the teen who took their son’s life with a single stabbing blow outside their own home was read out in Brisbane’s Supreme Court late Friday, June 9.

The jury found the teenager not guilty of the murder charge, but convicted him by unanimous verdict on the alternative charge of manslaughter.

“There’s no winners out of this,” Balin Stewart’s dad Michael said after the trial.

“Whichever way it went there was never any joy.

“Our families are destroyed.”

Balin Stewart, 16, who was allegedly stabbed to death outside his Buddina home on January 20. Picture: Supplied

The jury returned their verdict after about 14 hours of deliberations, following more than seven days of evidence and legal arguments in the Brisbane Supreme Court trial.

Balin Stewart, 16, died on January 20, 2022, after he was stabbed by a 17-year-old boy in the street outside his home at Buddina on the Sunshine Coast.

His killer – now 18, but who cannot be identified – had pleaded not guilty to murder at the start of the case on Monday, May 29. His legal team argued self-defence and provocation.

The Stewart family had spent the past 18 months fighting to ensure their son’s death was not in vain, establishing the Balin Stewart Foundation to help prevent future knife crime.

But the past week marked the culmination of one of their toughest battles – the youth justice system.

Mr Stewart described it as an “exhausting, exhausting process” which he described as hinging on the “quality of the excuse” with little regard for victims and their families.

Michael and Kerri-Lyn Stewart at the Brisbane Supreme Court trial.Picture: NCA NewsWire/Glenn Campbell

While he added had there been an acquittal Friday their emotions would’ve been different, he said there was little sense of satisfaction from the outcome.

“The feeling is we’re numb,” he said.

“We’ll never ever hold Balin again. We’re filled 24/7 with sorrow.”

Mr Stewart described the week long trial as a torrid and traumatic time, explaining how gut-wrenching and “grotesque” it had been to see the incident portrayed as a “bizarre love triangle”.

He said his son had known the girl for nine years and they’d referred to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend since the age of 12 and media coverage of certain aspects of the trial had been particularly tough to endure.

The jury retired to start their deliberations around midday on Wednesday and returned their verdict just after 5pm on Friday.

Balin Stewart, 16. Picture: Supplied

The jury wrote several notes to Justice Elizabeth Wilson asking for clarification on the meaning of legal terms and they heard parts of the evidence again late on Friday afternoon.

One member of the jury was crying as they left the courtroom after delivering the verdict.

Mr Stewart said he hoped the verdict would help some of his son’s friends still processing their loss.

“This will give them I hope a little bit of closure to see that their mate got justice,” Mr Stewart said.

He said they’d been buoyed by the “hundreds, if not thousands of messages” they’d received this week and he praised the Buddina community for its support, thanking the friends who had “held us crying at night”.

A time frame for Balin’s killer’s sentence was expected to be made clear in court next week.

Mr Stewart said he was still wary of both an appeal and a let-down from the system when it came to his son’s killer’s sentencing.

“We’ll have to wait and see in this current climate if the youth justice system holds up their end of the bargain,” he said.

Originally published as Balin Stewart death trial: Michael Stewart reacts to manslaughter guilty verdict