Two women who filmed the assault and subsequent death of an Irish teenager who fell from an apartment balcony during an armed robbery in Australia have been given a two-year probation order, with no recorded conviction.
Cian English (19), originally from Co Carlow but who was living in Hawthorne, Brisbane, was fatally injured after falling from a fourth-floor balcony at the View Pacific resort in Surfers Paradise on May 23rd, 2020.
The incident occurred during a trip to the Gold Coast with a friend.
Jason Ryan Knowles (25), Hayden Paul Kratzmann (23), and Lachlan Paul Soper-Lagas (21) had been charged with murder, but agreed to a plea deal of manslaughter.
Kratazmann and Knowles were jailed for nine-and-a-half years, while Soper-Lagas was sentenced to eight years in prison.
The Supreme Court in Brisbane heard on Tuesday that two women, who were 16 at the time, filmed the attack as Mr English and his friend were threatened with a knife, forced to undress, assaulted, robbed, degraded and tortured.
According to reports from Austrian media outlets, the women, are now 19 and 20-years-old, filmed up to 27-minutes of the torture.
Brisbane Supreme Court heard one of the women filmed herself forcing Mr English to clean his blood from the floor.
The other woman also filmed the scene from the balcony after Mr English fell to his death.
The women each pleaded guilty to one count of torture and two counts of armed robbery.
'Demeaning conduct'
Crown prosecutor Caroline Marco said both women knew Mr English was “critically injured on the ground” after he fell from the balcony, but instead of calling police they packed their belongings and fled the scene.
Ms Marco said the women later uploaded their videos to social media.
“After these events, you weren't shocked to your senses. You posted videos to your social media accounts,” Justice Peter Applegarth said, delivering their sentences.
“As terrible as (Mr English’s death) is, it’s the demeaning conduct and the complete disregard of the dignity of two human beings,” Justice Applegarth added.
“As horrible as your behaviour was, and how despicable you acted after the events...I am conscious of your remorse.”
The judge said the women’s decision to upload the videos to social media instead of calling emergency services was “completely reprehensible”.
Mr English’s mother Siobhan told the court on Tuesday that she continues to deal with the painful loss of her “forever hero”.
“The harrowing pain and haunting nightmares of seeing my beautiful boy broken and covered in bandages is an image that will never leave my mind,” she said.
“Cian’s life was taken away without any care or compassion.
“I still can’t bear to think about how he died. It destroys me a little bit every time. He was only 19 years young and he was taken away in the most horrific circumstance.
“He wasn’t ill, it wasn’t an accident. Cian didn’t want to die, he had his whole life ahead of him. An entire generation has been altered forever.”
Judge Applegarth handed down a two-year probation order for each of the women, and a conviction was not recorded.
