A TEENAGED Sudanese refugee who was refused a cigarette has been jailed for at least 16 years for the "cowardly" Sydney murder of an innocent bystander. "This was an offence of the most disturbing and senseless kind," Justice Megan Latham said in sentencing the boy in the
NSW Supreme Court today.
The youth, who was 15-years-old at the time of the offence and cannot be named, was found guilty of the stabbing murder of Edward Spowart, 54, in the early hours of April 21, 2008, during a brawl in the streets of Granville.
The intoxicated teenager had asked someone in the other group for a cigarette but was rebuffed and told to go home.
"Apparently reacting out of a wounded sense of pride, the offender threw a punch," the judge said.
A brawl then broke out, with various men and youths arming themselves with sticks, bricks and street signs.
"However, Mr Spowart played no active part in that confrontation or in the later hostilities," the judge said.
"He was an innocent bystander who had retreated to the relative safety of a grass verge and was carrying nothing more than a plastic shopping bag when the offender ran towards him with a knife and viciously assaulted him."
