Man sentenced to 17 years over murder of Ashley Gordon

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A teenager who murdered a Melbourne doctor has been sentenced to 17 years jail. The then 16-year-old broke into Ashley Gordon's home and then stabbed him to death in the street when he chased him.

Transcript

00:00In January 2024, Dr Ash Gordon was killed on the street, stabbed to death by a teenager

00:08who'd just burgled his house. Today, Ash Gordon's family sat metres away from the killer as he was

00:14sentenced for murder. The court heard that in January 2024, a group of teenagers were at a

00:19house party in Doncaster in Melbourne's east, a few doors down from Ash Gordon's house. They

00:25decided to break into his house to steal items like a laptop and some sneakers, and then came

00:30back into the house a second time to try to steal more things. This disturbed Dr Gordon, who woke up

00:36and confronted the intruders. They fled on foot, but Dr Gordon jumped into his car and tried to follow

00:43them. He was driving around the streets, looking for the teenagers, and then found them. Some of

00:48them managed to scurry away, but one teenager remained, and the court heard that Dr Gordon got

00:54in a physical altercation with this teenager while trying to perform a citizen's arrest.

00:59The court heard the teenager pulled out a knife and stabbed Dr Gordon several times. The fatal wound

01:06was a chest injury, which the doctor died from. Now, this teenager, who was 16 at the time, pleaded

01:14not guilty at his trial. He insisted that it was an act of self-defence, but it was a story that the jury

01:20didn't buy, and they found him guilty of the crime of murder. Justice Amanda Fox said this was a grave

01:27example of knife crime, and it really was a murder that could have been avoided. If the teenager had

01:34just not used his knife, he would have been sentenced for a burglary, and as the court heard, the other

01:40offenders didn't even get sent to jail, so he's ended up on quite a different trajectory. Dr Gordon's

01:46family was in court to see the sentencing today. They spoke to the media outside. Let's take a listen

01:52to what Ash Gordon's sister Natalie had to say. There will never be closure for the family. None of us

01:59will ever be at peace with anything, but it is a weight off our shoulders to not have to be constantly

02:07coming down and constantly listening to the awful things that, you know, he did to our brother.

02:13Do you see any remorse in him? Not at all. Haven't ever. Not once. Not a flicker of remorse or emotion

02:20at all. All of this comes at a time when youth crime is in the spotlight in Victoria, and the state

02:27government is actually looking to push through legislation this week which will toughen the

02:31penalties for children who commit crimes like aggravated burglaries and carjackings. These tougher

02:38reforms are welcomed by Ash Gordon's family, but of course it comes too late, and it's little comfort

02:45after all the trauma they've experienced.

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