A young killer who coldly blamed the stabbing death of a beloved doctor on the victim has been confronted in court by his family.
The loved ones of Doctor Ashley Gordon stared down the now 18-year-old thug who ruthlessly stabbed the 33-year-old to death on January 13 last year in a senseless act of violence.
Dr Gordon had confronted the teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons, on Eildon Street in Doncaster, in Melbourne’s east, to perform a citizen’s arrest after he caught him breaking into his home on nearby Sargent Street with three of his mates.
The teenager stabbed Dr Gordon 11 times, inflicting a 10.8cm deep chest wound that pierced his lung and heart and a forehead wound so severe it shaved off part of his frontal bone.
Yet the brazen killer claimed self-defence, running a cynical defence which tried to portray the helpless innocent doctor as the aggressor in the midst of ‘roid rage’.
But the jury dismissed the teen’s claims that Dr Gordon had ‘smirked’ at him and the killer’s other lies about the doctor’s fury fueled by vials of steroids the teen claimed to have in the doctor’s garage.
The heartless teen claimed the doctor shoulder-charged him into a garage door, prompting him to stab him repeatedly to free himself as he was held in a bear hug.
He said he feared for his life and never intended to kill or seriously injure Dr Gordon.
Doctor Ashley Gordon was murdered by a teenage thug who bragged about what he had done
Dr Gordon and his family in happier times
On Thursday, the heartbroken family of Dr Gordon told the young murderer what he did would not be forgotten – and would never be forgiven.
Tammy Gordon described the moment she pulled over while driving to Melbourne after learning her brother had been murdered.
She struggled to comprehend the meaning of her father’s devastating message, before later seeing her brother’s body which brought home the soulcrushing reality.
On Thursday she confronted the savage child killer face-to-face in court in a dramatic showdown.
‘You stabbed him 11 times. I saw him at the coroner’s, cold and rubbery – that wasn’t my brother,’ she said.
Sleepless nights and a heart filled with hate have left her unable to forgive.
‘Murder is beyond forgiveness,’ she said.
Ms Gordon said she was tortured by the thoughts of her brother’s final moments, knowing as a doctor he would have been aware he was dying.
Dr Gordon’s sister Tammy outside the Supreme Court of Victoria on Thursday
Natalie Gordon – Dr Gordon’s sister – has been tattooed with a portrait of her beloved brother
‘Alone, in pain, scared. These thoughts keep me up at night, preventing restful sleep,’ she said.
‘To have taken a life so viciously with a knife, stabbing him over and over, and then to laugh about it, you laughed.’
Known for his infectious smile and tireless commitment to saving lives, Dr Gordon was a ‘homegrown hero’ whose loss shocked a city caught in a seemingly endless crime wave.
More than 600 mourners had attended Dr Gordon’s funeral.
On the night he died, his killer had been out committing burglaries with three mates in the area and had broken into Dr Gordon’s house twice in the early hours to steal items as he and his housemate slept.
The doctor had been barefoot and unarmed when he confronted the teenager and told him police were on their way.
The teenager had claimed he tried to de-escalate the confrontation, shouting, ‘Don’t come close, bro, I’ve got a knife’ and backing toward a roller door, feeling trapped.
His mates attempted to back up the claims, recalling him saying, ‘I’m not going to run’ and ‘Don’t, bro, stop’.
Dr Gordon’s mother Catherine and father Glen leave the court on Thursday
The crime scene where Dr Gordon was murdered
It was nonsense and the jury rejected the claims, finding the killer guilty in June of the doctor’s murder.
Dr Gordon’s father Glen slammed Victoria’s justice system for failing his son.
‘I have a life sentence and I think it’s only fair that you suffer the same fate, but that will not happen,’ he said.
‘This is not how the system works. You were not fair on my son, but the system must be fair on you.
‘How deeply that cuts me to my core, you could never begin to imagine. This system that I have been so violently and traumatically thrust into at no choice of my own in my eyes has shown itself to be weak and ineffective in bringing justice to those who most deserve it.
‘I have been let down by the system, and ultimately, it was Ashley who was failed by the system. His death has shown me just how dangerous this world is due to a completely broken system that fails to hold people to account.’
The jury heard Dr Gordon’s killer planned to carry out more home invasions interstate and charter a plane to escape overseas after committing the crime.
A teen witness told the court he had been in contact with the accused and the third boy the next day when the pair said they wanted to leave the state.
Friends of Dr Gordon embraced outside his home upon learning of his death
‘They said they were going to steal a car, go up to the Gold Coast and get a charter plane to go to Papua New Guinea,’ he told the jury.
Under cross-examination, he said the accused was ‘planning on doing more home invasions’ on the Gold Coast before fleeing overseas.
The witness said the pair told him about consequences he would face if he stayed, including how he was ‘the prime suspect’ and would ‘go to jail for a long time’.
The jury heard evidence from one of those being chased that the accused had yelled for help after Dr Gordon caught up to them outside a driveway.
‘I saw Ash stumble over on the ground. [The other teen] ran over to him and kicked him in the face,’ he told the court.
The trio then ran away to a trail where the witness said the accused told him how he ‘yinged’ [stabbed] Dr Gordon.
Dr Gordon’s mother Catherine condemned the killer for taking away her son.
‘You have taken the life of such a special person. He was literally saving lives,’ she told the youth.
Sargent Street in Melbourne’s Doncaster where Dr Gordon was murdered
‘I have read the letters from his patients telling their story of how much Ash did and was continuing to do for them.’
The killer’s barrister Amelia Beech painted her client as a troubled teen who ‘went off the rails’ before the killing.
A talented basketball player with no prior convictions, she claimed the killer faced challenges after his parents’ tumultuous separation at age nine, leading to depression, anxiety, and cannabis use.
Associating with disaffected peers, he began skipping school and engaging in petty crime, culminating in the fatal encounter with the doctor.
Ms Beech argued the attack was impulsive, not premeditated, occurring in a ‘frantic and dynamic’ confrontation lasting seconds within a minute-long interaction.
Ms Beech conceded the boy’s response was disproportionate but argued he intended only serious injury, not death, driven by his immaturity and poor conflict management skills.
Crown prosecutor Kristie Churchill called for the teen to be sentenced to a lengthy term of imprisonment.
‘He maintains his subjective belief of his own innocence and continues to maintain it, despite the jury verdict, that he is effectively not guilty,’ she said.
Dr Gordon had been a lifesaver
‘That, your honour, we say, affects the assessment of remorse, as well as his insight, which then bears upon its prospects for rehabilitation.’
Ms Churchill said any notion the killer was in fear of Dr Gordon ought to be dismissed.
‘He says words to the effect of, “S***, I just killed or stabbed a guy. He’s dead, bro”,’ she told the court.
‘No mention of him being attacked, no mention he was in fear of his life, and no mention he did it because of anything that Dr Gordon did.
‘In our submission, your honour, he wasn’t attacked or in fear of really serious injury or death. He was in fear of being caught.’
The teen will be sentenced by Justice Amanda Fox at a date to be fixed.