A 15-year-old boy has been charged over his alleged involvement in the fatal stabbing of a young disable man during a wild, daylight street brawl outside a busy suburban railway station.
The high school student has become the seventh person charged over the attack, which occurred near Shellharbour Junction, on the NSW south coast, last month.
Jack Westren, 25, was allegedly stabbed in the chest on a walkway near the railway station train station on Saturn Crescent in Dunmore, about 20 minutes south of Wollongong, just before 3pm on January 28.
Despite their best efforts, the man could not be revived and died at the scene.
Detectives allege the man was stabbed after being set upon by a pack of youths – including a trio of 13-year-old boys and a girl as young as 12 – before his assailants fled in an Isuzu MU-X.
The SUV was later found in the nearby Shellhabour suburb of Albion Park Rail and seized and towed away for forensic testing.
Officers from Lake Illawarra Police District launched Strike Force Feods to investigate the attack with assistance from the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad.
They have been reportedly investigating whether Mr Westren was lured to the train station via TikTok.
Jack Westren was stabbed to death outside a busy suburban railway station in broad daylight last month
Seven people have now been charged over the fatal stabbing – including a girl as young as 12
Mr Westren, who lived with a disability following two brain injuries, has been remembered as ‘a kind kid, with the biggest heart’
Six people – a 38-year-old woman, a 15-year-old boy, three 13-year-old boys, and a 12-year-old girl – have already been charged over the incident and are currently before the courts.
The latest teen arrested over the fatal attack was taken into custody at Lake Illawarra Police Station just after 8.30pm on Monday.
The 15-year-old was charged with accessory after the fact to murder; armed with intent to commit an indictable offence; and face blackened or disguised with intent to commit an indictable offence.
He was refused bail and will appear before a Children’s Court on Tuesday.
Investigations into the stabbing continue, with police keen to speak with other people they believe were at the scene at the time of the stabbing.
Mr Westren, who lived with a disability following two brain injuries, has been remembered as ‘a kind kid, with the biggest heart’.
‘I don’t know why,’ his mum told Nine News last month.
‘I’m lost and I just want him back.’
