Karen Henry received a call from the police 20 minutes after learning that her kid had been hurt and was being treated in the hospital.
Nicholas, her devoted son, had been found and fatally stabbed.
In an emotional address to Victoria’s Supreme Court, Henry stated, “I never got the chance to say goodbye, he was taken from me so quickly.”
The three young men who admitted killing Henry appeared in court on Friday for a pre-sentence hearing with Henry’s horrified family in attendance.
In February 2021, Henry was pursued across Morwell in Victoria’s southeast by brothers Corey and Brayden Smart, as well as Abraham Abas, before they captured him off the road and surrounded him.
To manslaughter, all three have entered guilty pleas.
Henry was “hunted down” by the guys, according to Justice Jane Dixon, and had little opportunity of eluding them.
On February 20, outside an RSL, Corey Smart thought Henry had broken into his girlfriend’s car earlier in the evening.
Abas and his brother were with him as he followed Henry’s van and pushed it off the road.
The van climbed a gutter before striking a fence.
One of the three attackers was heard shouting, “You dog, you rat,” by a neighbour.
Henry exited the van and made an attempt to flee, but the three men pursued him and attacked him while he lay “completely defenceless on the ground,” according to prosecutor David Glynn.
He declared, “It’s motivated by retaliation and, to some extent, taking the law into their own hands.”
Before stabbing Henry eight times across his back and bottom with a knife, the group beat Henry while he lay on the ground.
He was completely defenceless and unable to protect himself, according to Glynn.
Henry was rushed to the hospital while still alive but severely bleeding.
On February 21, around 2.30 am, he passed away.
His mother claimed that since her son’s passing, their family has not been the same.
She said in a statement, “I can’t believe I won’t hear Nicholas’ voice again, see his cheeky smile, and most of all hear his laugh.
“All I ask is for Nicholas to be given justice for my boy and our family,”
When her mother broke the heartbreaking news to Taylor Henry, his sister, she reportedly “fell to the ground screaming no.”
“Our family will never be the same,” she declared.
Each of the three men could spend up to 25 years in prison.
Corey’s attorney, Julian McMahon SC, argued that his client had neurological problems as a result of a car accident and urged the judge to not give him a stiffer punishment than the other two.
Brayden Smart, according to Colin Mandy SC, acted out of loyalty to his brother, whereas Abas, according to David Cronin, Abas’ attorney, feared the possibility of being deported.
The Smart brothers and Abas will receive sentences from Dixon at a later time.
