Teen killer’s chilling last message before fatal brawl
A violent suburban brawl that claimed the life of a mother of two was pre-arranged on social media by two warring friendship groups who provoked each other into a fight.
Four teenage girls, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, replaced the classroom with the courtroom after bringing knives to a fight in Wollongong on November 22, 2023.
According to admitted facts in the case, two of the girls were 14 and the other two were 15 when a chat called “The Big Yappers” was created on Instagram to arrange a fight with another group of girls.
In the 24 hours before the fight, both sides made derogatory comments and threats, including inflicting grievous bodily harm, while provoking each other.
According to court documents, a member of the rival group invited the teenagers to an address at 4pm in “Lego”, a reference to an area known as Legoland in the Wollongong suburb of Warrawong.
According to the facts, the four girls were accused of being cowards because they did not arrive at the appointed time.
But two hours later, three of them were preparing for a fight by buying kitchen knives from a supermarket.
According to the facts, two 15-year-old girls were seen on CCTV cameras imitating fighting moves before all four teenagers boarded a bus to the suburban street where the fatal fight took place after 6.20pm.
The 15-year-old boy who would fatally stab Kristie McBride told the rival group that their bus would arrive at 6.17pm and they should then walk to the address.
“We’re in Legoland,” he wrote in his last chilling message to the group chat before the fight.
The 15-year-old boy didn’t bring a knife, but when the fight started, his 14-year-old friend handed him the knife.
When Miss McBride, who had been drinking at the same address as the rival group, approached the 14-year-old, the older teenager attacked him with a knife, leaving cuts on his scalp and forehead.
According to the agreed facts, the 15-year-old thought his actions were necessary to protect his friends, but it was unreasonable for him to receive multiple blows.
He stabbed the mother-of-two twice in the stomach, causing deep wounds that injured Ms McBride’s kidney and intestines.
The 39-year-old man was bleeding and clutching his wound as he staggered to a nearby house before passing out.
“That little bastard stabbed me,” he said, according to the facts.
Ms McBride was taken to Wollongong Hospital and placed in an induced coma before dying days later.
Four teenage girls, now aged between 16 and 17, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the NSW Supreme Court on Monday, the day they were due to stand trial for murder.
The three girls who did not deliver the fatal blow were responsible for Ms. McBride’s death because they had brought knives to the fight and foresaw the possibility that someone could be seriously injured, according to court documents.
However, they did not act with the intention of killing anyone or causing serious bodily harm, and they did not expect anyone outside their group to do so either.
All four teenagers will return to the NSW Supreme Court in December before being sentenced next year.
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