NSW: Stabbed boy's grieving parents call for end to knife crime
By Karen Davis, Bonny Symons-Brown and Patrick Caruana22 Dec 2008 6:07 PM
SYDNEY, Dec 22 AAP - The grieving parents of a boy fatally stabbed in a fight on a Sydney train have made an emotional appeal for kids not to carry knives, saying their son was too young to die.
Andrew Motuliki, 17, was stabbed in the chest with a large fishing knife allegedly after a fight broke out between two groups of teenagers on a train at Campsie station, in Sydney's south-west, on Sunday afternoon.
Passengers on the train tried to give the Marrickville teenager first aid but he was pronounced dead on arrival at St George Hospital.
Another teenager on Monday faced a Sydney court charged with his murder.
His lawyer told Parramatta Children's Court his client was among a group of people who had been pursued and attacked, and the "defence of self-defence is very much available".
Andrew's father Eti and mother Ane, who clutched a photograph of her dead son, wept as they spoke on Monday about the oldest of their three boys.
Mr Motuliki said Andrew, who played rugby union, had many friends and was loved by everyone.
"Seventeen years old, it was much too young for him to die," he said.
"I would like to appeal to kids everywhere not to carry knives.
"They need to find out another way to solve their problems."
Mr Motuliki said his family had been left to endure Christmas without their loved one, he said.
"It's four days until Christmas and we are going to miss Andrew so much," he said.
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with his murder, as well as affray and custody of a knife in a public place.
In Parramatta Children's Court on Monday, Magistrate Gary Still refused bail for the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
"We're talking about 4.30 (sic) in the afternoon, we're talking about Sunday, we're talking about public transport, we're talking about a knife and we're talking about murder," Mr Still told the court.
In asking for bail to be refused, police prosecutor Jonathan Falzon said the boy had already tried to offload the weapon to another person.
He told the court there was CCTV footage of the incident.
"It appears as though there is a single wound caused by what appears to be a single stab," he told the court.
"There is a defensive wound to the victim's left forearm which would indicate more than one strike with the knife."
The boy's solicitor, Dennis Miralis, told the court the case against his client had "significant weaknesses".
"When you look at the police facts ... the Crown case is one in which the aggressors on this occasion did not include the young person before the court," he told the court.
"The first strike, the first assault, was committed by the group that was pursuing my client's group.
"The defence of self-defence is very much available to the young person."
The teenager appeared before the court wearing a white hooded jumper and had visible facial bruising and a swollen eye.
He was supported by his family, who began sobbing and called out "boy, I love you" as he was led out of the courtroom.
Speaking outside the court, Mr Miralis said the boy would plead not guilty to all charges.
The boy is due to reappear at the same court on January 15 via video link.
A 15-year-old boy and four other youths have also been charged with affray.
The 15-year-old, from Lakemba, was conditionally bailed to reappear in Parramatta Children's Court on January 14.
