Liam McNally
A teenager has been sentenced to six year’s imprisonment after being found guilty of manslaughter following a deadly stabbing at Melton Train Station in December 2021.
According to evidence tendered in the Victorian Supreme Court trial before Justice Croucher, 41-year-old father Adam Cassar arrived at Melton station alone just before 2.40am on December 29.
The offender, who cannot be named because he was 17 at the time, was also at the station with a group of youths.
Mr Cassar was getting changed when he was approached by the teenager. The pair were heavily intoxicated and strangers to each other.
In his sentencing remarks delivered on October 19 Judge Croucher said, while it cannot be seen on CCTV footage it can be inferred that the teenager produced a knife and jabbed it at Mr Cassar, but without intending to stab him.
“At the same time — probably because of a combination of Mr Cassar’s flinching attempt to protect himself when he saw the knife at such close quarters and the (teenager’s) movement — the knife’s trajectory was deflected by the back of Mr Cassar’s left hand and ended up accidentally stabbing him in the chest,“ said Judge Croucher.
Startled, Mr Cassar fled immediately to a friend’s home nearby.
Mr Cassar died in the driveway of those premises shortly afterwards because of blood loss from his chest wound.
Judge Croucher said the teenager did not appear to realise how badly Mr Cassar was hurt, if at all, for he watched him run away as if nothing, or nothing much, had happened.
The teenager, who had been in Melbourne to visit his mother who lived in Burnside, returned to Sydney by train the following day, but in late January 2022, he was extradited back to Melbourne.
On the day before the incident, the teenager was spotted on CCTV buying a bottle of Fireball whiskey from a Melton liquor store at 5.30pm.
The teen said he was completely unable to remember the offence itself.
In an impact statement, Mr Cassar’s 22-year-old-daughter, Kiera Cassar said the crime not only stripped away her father’s life from her, but also denied him the opportunity of finding love, of seeing her marry, and of meeting her future children.
She said her day is over if she hears a song that reminds her of him, for she ends up distracted, crying, and angry.
The teen was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment with a non‑parole period of three years, of which 630 days had already been served in pre-sentence detention.
The judge also recommended that the teen be allowed to continue to serve his sentence in a youth justice centre.
