Harrowing scenes in court as family of slain Melbourne teenager Declan Cutler lash out at one of his eight alleged killers, aged 14, after CCTV is played showing him being stabbed and slashed 56 times
- Declan Cutler, 16, was murdered in March last year
- The first of eight child killer's is on trial
- The boy was aged just 13 at the time
- CCTV captured Declan's brutal murder
The family of a boy allegedly stabbed to death in a Melbourne street by a teenage gang wailed in horror as they watched graphic CCTV of his killing.
Declan Cutler, 16, had bolted for his life as a group of eight teens allegedly pursued him in a vehicle before chasing him down and setting upon him.
The alleged killer, who was aged just 13 at the time, was branded a 'monster' by distraught sections of Declan's friends and family, who watched on from inside the top tier of the Supreme Court of Victoria court room.
Declan Cutler was stabbed to death after being caught up in childish gang violence
Police attend the scene where Declan Cutler was brutally cut down
Labelled 'No.6' of the eight offenders to appear on the CCTV, the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was seen kicking and stomping on Declan as a mate allegedly repeatedly cut and stabbed him.
The court heard the boy did not deny his role in the violence captured on the CCTV, but denied he had been involved in an agreement with his thug mates to murder Declan.
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The boy's defence also claims he is too young to even be held account for any criminality due to Victoria's 'doli incapax' laws, which state a child under 14 cannot be held criminally responsible unless they knew their actions were seriously wrong.
Crown prosecutor Kristie Churchill told Justice Rita Incerti, who will decide the boy's fate in the judge-only trial, the alleged killer knew exactly what he was doing when he participated in the deadly assault.
The court heard Declan had never met his killers and had been targetted through association with a mate who ran with a gang in Melbourne's north called H Town.
On the night he would die, Declan had attended a party in Reservoir, 11km north of Melbourne's CBD, which had been attended by female associates of rival gang members from a western suburbs gang known as The Niners.
The court heard the girls filmed and recorded Declan's mate bad mouthing the gang, sending a video showing him say 'F**K the Niners'.
Horrific CCTV footage was played in court showing the moment Declan was brutally stabbed to death
Based out of Tarneit, the court heard the alleged killer had spent the day cruising around in a stolen car along with his mates.
Ms Churchill said the boy was later captured on CCTV piling into the car with seven gang members, one carrying a large knife.
It is during the up-to 50 minute drive into the northern suburbs prosecutors claim a plan was hatched to murder their rivals.
CCTV captured the stolen Mazda arrive in the area just before 2.30am.
By that time Declan and his two mates had already left and were walking away from the party unaware they were being hunted.
Upon realising the danger, Declan and his mates ran for their lives, with Declan losing his friends in the chaos.
Isolated and unarmed, the court heard all eight of the alleged killers ran Declan down and descended upon him in a marauding mass.
In all, the savage attack took just 17 seconds before they all jumped back into the Mazda and fled.
In a sickening final insult, the court heard the car returned minutes later with one of the teen gangsters seen on CCTV kicking Declan's body one last time.
Declan Cutler had attended a party with a mate who was in a gang
Ms Churchill outlined a forensic report which revealed the devastating impact the attack had on Declan's body.
'She finds 66 separate blunt-forced injuries to his face and limbs, 56 sharp force injuries, comprising of 29 stab wounds and 27 incised wounds, and 30 puncture wounds,' she said.
Declan's cause of death was ultimately put down to multiple stab wounds to his chest.
The boy's barrister, Sharon Lacy, claimed her young client, now aged 14, was innocent of murder.
'The video footage of the event is chilling. The CCTV shows eight people attack the deceased in a frenzied scene,' she said.
'(The boy) admits that he was the sixth accused to appear in that footage. (He) comes into the frame a second before number seven ... The defence accepts the pathologist finding that the cause of death was stab wounds to the chest. It's an agreed fact that (the boy) did not have a knife. He did not stab the deceased.'
Ms Lacy said while her client admitted kicking and stomping on Declan, he denied being involved in a murder.
'It's the stabbing to the chest that caused the death, stabbing by someone else,' Ms Lacy said.
The court heard the boy will defend he entered into an agreement to murder and was too young and immature to be capable of committing such a crime.
Ms Churchill said the trial will dispute that defence, with evidence to show the boy had been arrested at least 10 times earlier by police and previously spent time in youth detention.
The trial continues.
