The knife crime wave that has had deadly consequences in Western Sydney’s postcode wars has spread to the country, where it is costing lives at a concerning rate.
Four teenagers have allegedly been killed by another teen with a knife in rural areas in just the past year, according to The Daily Telegraph’s docu-series The War: Young Blood.
Casino, a town of about 10,000 people on the far north coast of NSW, was rocked in May and June when friends Lachie Andrews and Ned Gronow died in the space of a month, sparking baseless rumours of a “kill list”.
Lachie had only moved to Casino from Canberra a few months before his mother Linda Pridham got a call one night to say there was something she needed to see on Snapchat.
“My other daughter had rang me to tell me what had happened because it was on Snapchat,” Ms Pridham said.
“So obviously then I was going through social media, which is a horrible thing.
“There were videos of it, the kids videoed it and put it all over social media, I didn’t see any of that.”
A month after Lachie was killed outside KFC in Casino his mate Ned was fatally knifed inside his family home.
The deaths of Lachie and Ned in Casino came a few months after a 13-year-old boy was fatally stabbed at Kariong, on the NSW Central Coast, in January.
A few months before that just down the road in Swansea, Kane Apthorpe was attacked with a knife on Parbury St where he collapsed and died.
His mother Anna Reid said she too found out about her son’s death through social media.
“I actually received a message late at night from someone asking if I was Kane’s mother for a start and then proceeding to tell me he was dead,” Ms Reid said.
“It was several hours after that police arrived at my door to notify me in person.
The 17-year-old boy who has pleaded guilty to one count of murder and one count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent is due to be sentenced next year.