Friends of 17-year-old Jack Beasley — who was killed during a fight on a busy entertainment strip on Queensland's Gold Coast in 2019 — have broken down while giving testimony about the moment they saw "blood everywhere" after he was stabbed.
Five teenage boys, aged between 15 and 18, were charged over the death of Jack, who was stabbed once in the chest on Surfers Paradise Boulevard on December 13, 2019.
Two of the teens have already pleaded guilty over their role, including a 17-year-old boy who admitted to inflicting the fatal wound.
Three others are on trial over his manslaughter and are also facing two counts of acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm over the wounding of Mr Beasley's friend, who cannot be named because he was a child at the time.
Ma-Mal-J Toala, 20, and a further two males — who also cannot be named due to their being children at the time — have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Judge-only trial
A judge-only trial being held in the Supreme Court in Brisbane has been told the group of five teens from Logan had been in Surfers Paradise on the night and the youngest was carrying a knife.
The prosecution alleges this group had seen Mr Beasley and his friends, who were not known to them, while they were walking past and had chased after them in a bid to start a fight.
It has been alleged that, after a verbal altercation with Mr Beasley and one of the men who have now pleaded guilty, a physical fight broke out between both groups, including the accused trio.
During the brawl, Mr Beasley was fatally stabbed, and his friend was also wounded.
'Fight kicked off'
Giving evidence today, Izaiah Kahika told the court he was walking behind Mr Beasley and their other friends, when one of the males in the second group approached him and said: "Are those your boys?"
"Then they just got in front of us," Mr Kahika said.
Mr Kahika told the court that he saw one male toward the front of the group "shaping up" to Mr Beasley, and his friend retaliated.
"We just tried to keep walking, then they pushed Jack," he said.
"[Jack] threw a cigarette at him … and the fight kicked off.
'Just blood everywhere'
Another friend, Leticia Lucero, became emotional on the stand when asked to describe the "intense" fight, including the moment she realised their other friend had been stabbed twice.
"[He] pulled up his shirt and he was bleeding," she said.
Shae Graham, who had been walking alongside Mr Beasley, said she heard some of the boys in her group saying "f*** off and go away" to the other males in response to them wanting to fight.
"I just remember holding onto Jack's shirt saying, 'Can we just go?'" Ms Graham told the court.
"[The other group] just kept yelling … and the fight just happened really quick."
Through tears, Ms Graham told the court that, afterwards, she saw her other friend "pouring out with blood".
The crown will argue the trio had a common purpose to assault Mr Beasley and his friends, and that an unlawful killing would be a "probable consequence".
Defence lawyers for the accused will argue their clients were not responsible for Mr Beasley's death.
The trial before Justice Soraya Ryan continues.
