By Erin Pearson
Four youths involved in the brutal, unprovoked murder of a 16-year-old stranger could each spend close to two decades in jail over what has been described as one of the most confronting and haunting killings in Victorian history.
Simmering tension between two youth gangs, the 9ers and H-Town, probably led to the murder of Declan Cutler, Supreme Court judge Rita Incerti found. Declan had no affiliation with either group and was simply walking home from a party when he was attacked in Reservoir in March 2022.
Declan Cutler, 16, was murdered after leaving a party in Melbourne’s northern suburbs in March 2022.
The four killers, who cannot be identified, were aged 15 and 17 at the time and are now 20, 19 and 17. The group had been involved in further offending while on remand, the court heard, and two were on bail at the time.
All four appeared in person at a Supreme Court hearing, held at the nearby County Court, on Wednesday, standing one by one for the judge as she revealed their sentences after they were found guilty of murder following a month-long judge-alone trial in December.
Incerti said the four were part of a group of eight teens, then aged 13 to 17, who cruised around Melbourne’s western suburbs in a stolen Mazda on the night of March 12, 2022. Elsewhere, near Reservoir, Declan and his friends attended a house party, where members of H-Town were also present.
Shortly after midnight, Incerti said, a girl at the party arranged to have the 9ers members collect her, and told others at the party they were coming.
Soon after, the girl recorded a conversation on her phone with another reveller in which he had said, “f--- the 9ers”, which she relayed to her friends in the car.
About 2.30am, Declan and his friends left the party and were walking along a nearby street when the eight teens pulled over in the Mazda.
“Some of you got out of the car, causing Declan and his friends to separate and run away. Declan was not associated with H-Town. Declan was a total stranger to you,” Incerti said on Wednesday.
“Tragically, Declan seemed to be the first person encountered by your group.
Declan’s mother, Samantha Cutler (right), leaves court on Wednesday with a friend.Credit: AAP
“Declan tried to run away but was dragged down onto the nature strip … and brutally attacked ... by all eight of you.”
Incerti said during two waves of an attack lasting close to two minutes, Declan was kicked, stomped on and repeatedly stabbed – as members of the group passed knives to each other to use – before the offending group drove away and left him dying on the nature strip.
As they left, one of the group was heard yelling to a girl near the party: “He’s around there, he’s dead, Mum’s life, he’s dead.”
A nearby CCTV camera captured footage the judge described as profoundly confronting of the brutal attack.
She said the sheer ferocity of the attack had only emerged later when an autopsy was conducted. The autopsy found Declan endured 56 sharp-force injuries, 30 puncture wounds and 66 blunt-force injuries caused by the stomps and kicks that rained down on him.
“Words fail to describe the shocking brutality … on a defenceless teenager. The footage will forever haunt anyone who has seen it,” Incerti said.
Declan didn’t know any of his attackers.
The court heard the effect on Declan’s friends and his parents, Bryan Beattie and Samantha Cutler, had been profound, and that the teen had been robbed of his most basic right – his right to life.
In a victim impact statement, Beattie said he yearned for an end to knife crime so no other parent had to lose a teenager to a night out with friends.
“As his father powerfully put it, Declan will remain 16 forever,” Incerti said.
Extra security was in place for Wednesday’s sentencing, with 18 security officers sitting inside the courtroom. Outside were another six, who used special cameras to scan the identities of all who entered.
In sentencing the four males, Incerti noted one posed to take a photo with Declan after the attack while another returned to kick him one final time.
The parole board is expected to decide if the killers remain in youth detention until they turn 21, or are immediately transferred to adult prison.
One of Declan’s friends at the scene of the attack in the days afterwards.Credit: Penny Stephens
Two of the four killers were born overseas, and one arrived in Australia in 2005 as part of a refugee program. Another was born in Australia but spent his childhood overseas before returning to Australia as a teenager.
The judge warned the killers that while they would become eligible for parole at different times, it would ultimately be up to the Adult Parole Board to decide if and when they could be released.
Declan’s mother, Samantha Cutler, sat sobbing in the back of the courtroom as the sentences were read out.
The four males, seated across two rows in the dock, sat emotionless as they were jailed for between 17½ and 19½ years.
As two were led from the courtroom, they stopped to shake hands.
Four others involved in the attack have already gone through the courts. One, aged 13, was found not guilty by reason of doli incapax, a common law rule that says a child between 10 and 14 does not possess the necessary knowledge to have criminal intention.
Last year, a boy, then aged 16, was jailed for 15 years after pleading guilty to murder. Two others, both then 18, were given lesser sentences after pleading guilty to manslaughter and intentionally causing serious injury.
At the time of the teens’ arrests, Police Deputy Commissioner Bob Hill said the killing had been described as one of the most vicious and brutal attacks detectives had ever investigated.
He vowed police would be relentless in pursuing anyone responsible for this level of violence, regardless of their age.
Messages on the road in tribute to Declan in the days after his death.Credit: Penny Stephens
On Wednesday, Assistant Commissioner Libby Murphy echoed Hill’s comments and said homicide squad detectives were left horrified by the brutality of the murder.
“This has been a long and difficult investigation, and we believe the sentences reflect the serious nature of the incident,” Murphy said.
“We continue to support the family and endorse Declan’s father’s pleas to end knife crime and hope that conversations take place with our young people about the disastrous consequences of using knives.”
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