THE mother of a 16-year-old boy who was murdered by another teenager in the Hunter says she can still feel the presence of her son in her house and every aspect of her life has been impacted by his tragic and brutal death.
The boy's best mate, who was also stabbed four times and almost died, can remember, in graphic detail, what happened on that night in 2021 and said the screams of his friend "echo through my head".
"The smell of my own blooding flowing must be stained in my nose because I still smell the overpowering iron," the boy's best mate said in a powerful victim impact statement read in Newcastle Supreme Court on Thursday.
The 16-year-old boy was stabbed once in the chest by another then 16-year-old in the context of a "conflict" between two groups, the court heard.
He died at the scene, while his mate was rushed to hospital. The teenager was found hiding in a nearby backyard and took police to the murder weapon.
The boy's mother and mate prepared emotive victim impact statements that were read on Thursday during a sentence hearing for the teenager, now 18.
He has admitted to murdering the boy and stabbing his mate in the Hunter in September, 2021, but the teenager's barrister, Public Defender Peter Krisenthal, is arguing that he did not intend to kill the boy.
The boy's best mate said it was devastating to lose someone so close to him over "something so petty".
"It takes the weakest man alive to come up behind people with a knife you use for pig hunting," the boy's best mate said in his statement, addressing his killer in the court dock.
"I wish you nothing but pain and suffering for what you've put me through."
The boy's mother described her son as "quirky, funny and quick-witted" and said he was a doting big brother.
"[The boy] was the glue holding us all together," she said.
She said before he was murdered, the boy had got a job and his family was proud that he "was obtaining direction in his life".
The woman said every aspect of her life had been impacted since her son's death and she was now crippled with anxiety and fearful of losing others she cared about.
"I have experienced what I call "mum guilt"," the boy's mother said. "Often I think what could I have done to prevent this from happening. He should have been home with me. It hurts to know the last face that [the boy] saw was [his murderer].
"I can still feel his presence in my house. Often I run into his room to show him something funny only to realise he isn't there anymore.
"I miss [the boy] terribly and nothing will fill the void he left behind."
The teenager has pleaded guilty to murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, but the two-day hearing this week focused on whether the teenager should be sentenced on the basis that he intended to kill the 16-year-old boy or only intended to cause him grievous bodily harm.
After hearing a day of evidence on Wednesday, Justice Dina Yehia, SC, ruled the teenager's interview with police - during which he is said to have uttered "graphic things" about the stabbing - was inadmissible.
Justice Yehia will determine the teenager's intent at the time of the stabbing when she sentences him on Friday.
On the issue of intention, Mr Krisenthal said perhaps the strongest evidence came from a phone call on the night of the murder, when the teenager was told the boy he had stabbed had died.
"When I told him [the boy] died he cried out a deep, all the air being sucked out of your chest type of cry," Mr Krisenthal said, reading from a statement. "It was an awful sound."
Despite now being 18, the teenager is likely to spend more time in juvenile detention before he is moved to an adult jail.
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