Charlie Stevens funeral: Adelaide farewells Police Commissioner’s son
There has been an outpouring of emotion at Adelaide Oval as SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens and his family farewelled their son while thousands paid their respects.
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From the moment he was born, Charlie Stevens was a cheeky, loveable ratbag.
His heartbroken father, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, raised eyebrows early in his son’s life when he gifted him a real cordless drill for his third Christmas.
Charlie promptly removed the screws from the furniture and each rung of a stepladder before he disassembled the wooden cubby house plank by plank.
His father remembered at his son’s funeral at Adelaide Oval last night that it was fortunate he got a toy circular saw at the same time, not the real thing.
But it showed the family that Charlie was already on a path to the successful carpentry career he had embarked on when his life was cruelly cut short in an alleged hit-run at schoolies in Goolwa earlier this month.
The Christmas drill incident was one of countless stories about Charlie Stevens.
Smiling, cheeky, wild, loyal, generous. Loving and completely loved in return. They were the common themes.
A young man who wanted to flash his cash from work and his growing biceps at his four older siblings who were in equal measure amused and confused by the wild antics of the Stevens family larrikin.
“Some of our friends thought that we were irresponsible giving him a drill,” Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said.
He then quipped to laughter: “He had to settle for a toy circular saw instead of a real one. Much to his disgust.”
“He was always hammering nails, screwing screws and drilling holes,” Mr Stevens said.
“He removed the screws from everything including the outdoor furniture. And the rungs of the stepladder.
“He disassembled the wooden cubby house in the backyard plank by plank, taking the door off one day to replace his wardrobe door he had broken, thinking that we wouldn’t notice the difference.”
Less than a week ago Charlie would have celebrated the end of his school life and the beginning of adulthood with his Mercedes College friends.
But he never got the chance to mark the occasion with them.
Instead it was left to his parents Grant and Emma Stevens to console his friends before they went out for the night.
The presence of Charlie’s friends have given strength to the grieving Stevens family, the Police Commissioner said.
“Charlie was intense and immersed himself in the things he loved,” Mr Stevens said of his son.
Standing in front of his beloved youngest son’s flower-adorned coffin and with thousands watching on a live stream and in the William Magarey Room, Mr Stevens laughed and cried as he delivered the hardest address of his life.
“Charlie Stevens was no angel,” he said.
“But he was a good boy. He did have a big personality, a big heart and a good soul.
“Everybody knew Charlie. He was known for his big heart and his big smile.”
The tears flowed as the man who fronted cameras daily during the pandemic and has been the face of tragedy as the state’s top cop was barely able to maintain his signature stoicism as he completed his teenager’s eulogy.
“Charlie, your mum and I love you and we are devastated that you were taken from us so soon,” he said.
“We are heartbroken now, but we can’t think of you without smiling.
“We have missed you everyday since we said goodbye and we will always miss you.
“We will love you forever Charlie boy.”
The state’s top police officers, including Acting Commissioner Linda Williams were among mourners, along with police commissioners from every state and territory, Premier Peter Malinauskas and cabinet ministers.
A succession of mates the same age as Charlie made their way to the spot by his coffin to pay their tribute.
They variously remembered a larrikin who egged them on in fun and hilarity, but who was also steadfastly loyal.
They contemplated through tears how to go on without him, their faces stricken.
Charlie, who his father said was destined to be a tradie since the Christmas unscrewing incident, loved being a carpenter and his work mates loved him dearly.
Charlie’s boss Tom Edwards hired his apprentice after just three days of work experience.
“You became a close mate that I loved like a little brother,” Mr Edwards, one of Charlie’s idols, said.
“Charlie was always smiling at work. What I loved most about Charlie was his excitement for life. Never stop smiling. Love you mate.”
Before the public service, AFP Commissioner Peter Harvey read an emotional statement on behalf of the Stevens family.
“Today we say goodbye to our most precious, wonderful and beautiful Charlie, who was so suddenly taken from us,” Mr Harvey said.
“The love and support from family, friends, teammates, school colleagues and many, many other people from across the community has been incredible and greatly appreciated.
“The support has been amazing and greatly appreciated. We are overwhelmed and eternally grateful.
“Now is the time for us to regroup as a family and focus on how we move forward without our very, very special Charlie.”
Charlie’s siblings took his coffin to a hearse outside the Oval. In harrowing scenes his parents were the first to farewell their son, sobbing as they clutched each other.
A succession of family and friends came forward to lay white roses as a song played, with lyrics: “your work here is done.”
Mali unveils big gift amid Stevens tragedy
The state government has committed $100,000 to a cause close to Police Commissioner Grant Stevens’ heart as SA’s top cop prepares to lay his teenage son to rest.
Premier Peter Malinauskas announced the donation to the Operation Flinders Foundation ahead of Charlie Stevens’ twilight funeral at Adelaide Oval.
The Stevens family had asked mourners to consider donating to the foundation – of which he is a board member – in lieu of flowers.
“This $100,000 donation is over and above the $500,000 per annum that the South Australian state government commits to Operation Flinders so they can get out there and do their community orientated work, take young, vulnerable people with a whole range of different challenging circumstances in their lives and put them on a path to fulfilling engagement in the community in a way that is wholeheartedly helpful,” Mr Malinauskas said.
Mr Malinauskas thanked the Stevens family for “opening up their hearts” ahead of Charlie’s funeral, which was expected to attract thousands of mourners.
“It’s pretty remarkable that people who are enduring almost incomprehensible grief are thinking about how they can turn that in a way that benefits other members of the community,” he said.
“Our sympathies and condolences as a state are with the Stevens family.
“They’re beautiful people.”
Operation Flinders Foundation chief executive David Wark said the foundation was “truly humbled by the generosity of the Stevens family”.
“We’re delighted to be the recipients,” Mr Wark said.
“We’ll do everything we possibly can to make sure Charlie’s legacy lives for generations and then sincerely hope that whatever we do, the Stevens family feels very proud of the future.”
Police Minister Joe Szakacs thanked South Australians for their “kindness” to the Stevens family.
Charlie, 18, suffered an irreversible brain injury in an alleged hit-run collision at Goolwa during Schoolies celebrations.
Charlie was flown to Flinders Medical Centre after the collision and placed on life support, with family rushing from interstate to be by his side.
He died at the Flinders Medical Centre on November 18 surrounded by family and friends.
Mr Stevens penned an emotional letter in the days after his son’s death, introducing South Australians to “101” – his son and the 101st life lost on SA roads in 2023.
“I am writing this sitting in a bedroom with dirty clothes on the floor, an unmade bed, six drinking glasses lined up on the bedside table, an empty KFC box next to the glasses, wardrobe doors left open and a row of skateboards leaning on the wall – it is a mess and it’s perfect,” he wrote.
“101 is Charles Stevens – Charlie, Charlie Boy, Chas, Links, Steve. You lived life and gave so much to so many. You were a force of nature and we will never forget your beautiful cheeky, disarming smile.”
Encounter Bay teenager Dhirren Randhawa, 18, has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, aggravated driving without due care, leaving the scene of a crash after causing death and failing to truly answer questions.
He was released on bail after his first court appearance and is yet to enter a plea to the charges.
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Originally published as Charlie Stevens funeral: Adelaide farewells Police Commissioner’s son
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