Friday 11 May 2012

Sydney Court Brawl for dead teen


Court Brawl for dead teen


Violence erupted inside and outside a Sydney courtroom after a young man was sentenced over the manslaughter of a 16-year-old boy.

Violence erupted inside and outside the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney on Friday after Jay William Cook, 20, was sentenced over the 2010 manslaughter of 16-year-old Todd Burrows.

Todd's mother, Christine Burrows, breathed heavily and moaned during the sentencing before emitting a series of piercing screams.

An object was then thrown at Cook from the public gallery as he stood to be formally sentenced, causing him to duck.

Justice Peter Garling then suspended the proceedings and cleared the court.

Outside, fighting erupted between young men from the opposing groups, with members of the media spat at and police called to the scene.

Todd Burrows' sisters, Rhiannon, 24, and Teigen, 20, hugged their friends and sobbed, as their mother remonstrated with friends of Mr Cook.

'He got four years,' Ms Burrows, who wore a T-shirt bearing her son's photo, told reporters through her tears.

'Mums, that's what your kids are worth to those arseholes. Four years.'

Cook had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of the year 11 student, who died from a stab wound to his chest after a fight broke out between two opposing graffiti gangs at St Andrews in Sydney's southwest on October 30, 2010.

Cook, then aged 18, stabbed Burrows in the chest with a knife after the younger boy advanced on him, swinging a broken glass bottle.

The stabbed boy threw a bottle through the window of Cook's car as he retreated, before collapsing on the ground, bleeding profusely.

He was later pronounced dead at Liverpool Hospital.

Handing down his judgment, Justice Garling extended his sympathy to the Burrows family, saying: 'It's clear that their lives have been forever changed by the events of October 30, 2010.

'I regard it as a crime that was not planned by (Cook), but happened opportunistically as Mr Cook defended himself during the confrontation between two graffiti gangs.'

However, Cook's response to the threat was 'not reasonable' and he used 'excessive force' in defending himself, the judge said.

The judge said Cook's actions had 'all the hallmarks of an immature teenager'.

'He is a relatively young man. He was of reasonably good character. He is intelligent and his prospects of rehabilitation are good,' Justice Garling said.

When the court resumed on Friday afternoon, Cook was formally sentenced to seven years and six months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of four years.

No comments:

Post a Comment