Ash Gordon’s friends and family outside court on Tuesday.Credit: Justin McManus
Fox said the teens covered their faces, removed their shoes, put on gloves and slid under the roller door, entering the home to look for keys to the car.
Once inside the three-level townhouse, they stole sneakers, headphones, laptops, a wallet, jewellery and keys to Gordon’s housemate’s Mitsubishi Triton.
“The two men slept while you burgled their house,” Fox said.
The teenagers returned to the party, telling others what they had done and forming a plan to return to find the Mercedes-Benz keys they believed may be in Gordon’s bedroom.
Once inside, they used a phone torch to peer into Gordon’s bedroom before tiptoeing out to discuss taking some Gucci shoes.
When the teens entered the home for a third time – with the offender holding a folded hunting knife – Gordon woke up and disturbed them. The group fled the house and ran down the street, along a creek path and through a retirement village.
Gordon’s housemate, who had also now woken, called police while Gordon got into his Mercedes to search for the teens and his belongings.
When three of the teens were found nearby, they ran into the driveway of a home surrounded by a high wooden fence. Two managed to flee, while the offender did not have time.
The Doncaster crime scene.Credit: Paul Jeffers
“There’s no point running, the police are on their way,” Gordon had said.
Fox said a physical altercation occurred and Gordon was stabbed multiple times, including fatally to his chest.
He died on the road near where his car was parked, with one of the other teens returning to kick him in the head.
The offender told his friends when they regrouped nearby that he “just killed a guy”, showing his friends the knife. They later returned to the house party, the offender with blood on his pants, telling others something “super-serious” had occurred.
The knife has never been found.
Fox said the teens later burnt their clothes while filming themselves laughing. They then came up with an “unrealistic” plan to drive to the Gold Coast and charter a plane to Papua New Guinea.
The 16-year-old was arrested and charged on January 17, 2024. During the trial, the court heard the teen claimed he was acting in self-defence, which the jury rejected when it returned a guilty verdict for murder.
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“Dr Gordon wasn’t intending to hurt you when he got out of the car. He intended to hold you some way until the police arrived,” Fox said.
“You knew Dr Gordon was the victim of your aggravated burglary … you knew he had a lawful right to make a citizen arrest.
“This was a brutal attack with a weapon on a barefoot and unarmed man who was only there at all because you had broken into his house.”
Fox said victim impact statements from Gordon’s family painted a harrowing picture of his senseless death. She said he was a kind, hardworking, cheerful, intelligent and compassionate man who had just started up his own medical practice at the age of 33.
The judge said the killer’s mother is a lawyer in the public service and his father is an electrical contractor.
The 18-year-old aspired to be a professional basketball player before he said racist taunts gradually exposed him to crime and violence, prompting him to begin carrying a knife.
She described the teen as having no real insight into his offending and not showing signs of remorse, instead maintaining his innocence.
The killer was sentenced to 17 years jail with a non-parole period of 12 years. With time already served, he could be eligible for release in 2036.
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