The stabbing death of a ride attendant at Sydney's Royal Easter Show was not murder but rather, an impaired 14-year-old's impulsive and immediate action without a thought of consequences.
The teenager was acquitted of murder on Thursday after arguing he did not intend to seriously injure when he lunged at and stabbed Uati 'Pele' Faletolu in April 2022.
The knife penetrated the heart of the 17-year-old Uati, who was on a break and meeting two friends.
The confrontation occurred by chance after the killer and two friends – all members of a rival street gang – crossed paths with Uati.
Within 10 seconds, the 14-year-old lunged through a gap in his friends, knifed Uati once and then bolted.
Prosecutors argued the teen's motivation to kill was underlined by self-stated animosity towards people associated with Uati's street gang.
The teen texted "GG 67 motherf***er" after the stabbing and later wrote a rap that "Should have worked at Maccas. Now he's dead. We smoke him up."
He also typed a note into his phone which included "I didn't beat him up. I took his soul".
He also had a "fascination with knives" and gave each of his weapons individual names including "Barbie" for the knife used in the killing, the Crown told the trial.
But NSW Supreme Court Justice Peter Garling dismissed the post-killing statements as the boasts of an adolescent trying to bolster an image of being a gang member.
He placed weight on evidence of the teen's troubled childhood, featuring beatings by his drunk father when he tried to stop violence toward his mum, and being stabbed himself aged 13 when walking to football training.
The boy joined the local "Ready for Anything" gang in Mount Druitt afterwards, crediting the members for helping him during his recovery.
He was with other gang members on April 11, 2022, when he attended the Easter show and came across Uati, a member of Doonside's 67 gang.
"The confrontation occurred by chance and without planning," Justice Garling said.
The teen's actions were impulsive and a response to the confrontation, but triggered by his then-undiagnosed PTSD and heightened perceptions of threat, the judge found.
"I'm satisfied the accused's action was impulsive, thoughtless and immediate without any consideration of the consequences," he said
"After all, he was a psychosocially immature adolescent who was only 14 years old."
Community standards would recognise young adolescents, especially those who had suffered a hard upbringing, are prone to thoughtless actions, he said.
"These [actions] are not the traits of a criminal mind or criminal behaviour," Justice Garling said.
The boy, who was also of Pacific Islander heritage, faced the judge-alone trial after a jury was unable to reach a verdict in an earlier trial.
He had pleaded guilty to Uati's manslaughter and will be sentenced at a later date.
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