Now 18, he was found guilty in June of Gordon\u2019s murder after taking the case to trial arguing he had acted in self-defence.<\/p>\n
Ash Gordon, pictured with his parents, had recently started a practice. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Handing down the sentence, Justice Amanda Fox outlined the facts of the case, including that the teen had twice broken into Gordon\u2019s home seeking to steal the keys to his Mercedes AMG.<\/p>\n
On the second occasion, Justice Fox said Gordon woke and saw the intruders in his home.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello, boys,\u201d he said, as the teenagers fled.<\/p>\n
The court was told Gordon\u2019s housemate wanted to call police but he jumped in the car to look for the group to get his belongings back.<\/p>\n
He spotted the boys and gave chase on foot, during which the teenager pulled out his knife and stabbed Gordon, leaving him to die.<\/p>\n
Justice Fox told the court she did not accept the teenager\u2019s claim that Gordon had attempted to run him down in the car.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr Gordon was not intending to harm you when he got out of the car. He was likely angry, given he had just been burgled,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr Gordon entered the driveway and ran at you, intending to physically restrain you in some way and hold you until police arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n
Justice Fox said the teenager \u201cprobably felt cornered\u201d and made the \u201cvery fast and terrible decision\u201d to stab the doctor.<\/p>\n
But she said she did not believe he was fearful for his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not accept you believed he was going to kill you or cause you really serious injury,\u201d the judge found.<\/p>\n
One of the other boys kicked Gordon in the face as he lay dying, an act Justice Fox described as \u201cdespicable\u201d.<\/p>\n
The teens then fled, with the killer constructing an absurd plan to steal a car and flee the country.<\/p>\n
Justice Fox said Gordon\u2019s family had been shattered by his sudden, senseless and violent death.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr Gordon was a kind, hardworking, cheerful, intelligent and compassionate man,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis death has plunged his family into a world filled with overwhelming pain, hurt and suffering. And the trauma is never-ending.\u201d<\/p>\n
Justice Fox said the teenager did not have any past criminal connections and was from a good family but had struggled after being exposed to violence in the years before he murdered Gordon.<\/p>\n
She said she could not find that he was remorseful and he continues to maintain his innocence.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr Gordon was an innocent member of the public. He was only in the driveway on this night because you had broken into his house and stolen his belongings,\u201d she said.\u201cYou knew that when you made the terrible choice to stab him multiple times rather than let yourself be caught.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis case tragically highlights the danger that is caused to the community by young people carrying knives.\u201d<\/p>\n
The killer will serve at least 12 years before he is eligible for parole.<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now 18, he was found guilty in June of Gordon\u2019s murder after taking the case to trial arguing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[15140,14466,4921,89,5765,107280,110,22285,7061,17150,40370,69835,42,14235,91994,5158,123,15360,43,24265,15388,5161,72230,5163,4054,61,40,38,41,39,107281,16963,1299,102,1530],"class_list":["post-163644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-15140","tag-arrest","tag-ash","tag-attack","tag-attempted","tag-barefoot","tag-brutal","tag-citizens","tag-doctor","tag-fate","tag-gordon","tag-gp","tag-headlines","tag-killer","tag-learnt","tag-man","tag-melbourne","tag-murdering","tag-news","tag-perform","tag-responsible","tag-sentenced","tag-stabbed","tag-teen","tag-teenager","tag-to","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-unarmed","tag-weapon","tag-who","tag-with","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}