A 13-year-old boy has been charged with murder following the stabbing death of a 36-year-old man in Sydney’s west, in what police have described as an “absolutely senseless” act of violence.
Emergency services were called to Mount Druitt on Friday evening following reports of an assault. Upon arrival, they discovered a 36-year-old man suffering from stab wounds to his torso. Despite the best efforts of paramedics to revive him, the man died at the scene.
On Sunday, a 13-year-old boy, who was already known to police, was arrested at the Mount Druitt police station. Authorities identified the youth through CCTV footage captured at the scene of the incident. He has been charged with murder, as well as breach of bail and an unrelated robbery offence. A second youth, aged 16, was arrested later that evening at a home in Cabramatta and has been charged as an accessory after the fact to murder.
Superintendent Darrin Batchelor expressed his shock during a news briefing on Monday, noting that in his 30-year policing career, he rarely encountered such a senseless loss of life. Investigators believe the fatal altercation stemmed from a “chance meeting that was totally innocent.”
According to police, the victim was on his way home from work when he stopped to speak with a group of young people he knew through friends and family. In an act of kindness, the man went to a nearby ATM to withdraw cash so the group could pay for their transport home.
“Another group of young people took offence to that conversation,” Superintendent Batchelor said. “Here you have an individual… on his way home from work, purely stopped to talk to friends that he knew, and this group took offence to that and allegedly stabbed him twice.”
Police have since recovered a knife, believed to be the weapon used in the attack, from a drain outside a block of units in Cabramatta.
Superintendent Brendan Gorman confirmed that detectives are still working to piece together the events of Friday night, noting that there were approximately a dozen people in the vicinity when the stabbing occurred. Police have identified at least two other individuals allegedly involved in the incident and are actively encouraging them to surrender themselves to authorities.
Both the 13-year-old and 16-year-old were refused bail and were scheduled to appear before a children’s court on Monday.
Authorities are continuing their investigation and are urging anyone who may have relevant information, or who possesses dashcam or CCTV footage from the area at the time of the incident, to contact police immediately.
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