A security guard has revealed the heartbreaking last words of a young bottle shop worker who died in his arms after allegedly being stabbed by a teenager.
Declan Laverty, 20, was minutes from finishing his shift at the Airport Tavern BWS self-service bottle shop in Jingili, Darwin, Northern Territory, shortly before 9pm on March 19, 2023, when he was allegedly stabbed repeatedly.
Keith Kerinauia, 19, allegedly stabbed Mr. Laverty multiple times after he was refused service and fled the scene in a blue 2014 Toyota Camry.
Kerinauia pleaded not guilty based on self-defense after police charged him with one count of murder and one count of aggravated robbery.
During the second day of his murder trial on Tuesday, security guard Rifat Mahmud told the Supreme Court in Darwin he saw Laverty being stabbed.
Declan Laverty, 20, was working at the BWS bottle shop in Jingili, Darwin, when he was allegedly stabbed several times by a teenage customer.
BWS Airport Tavern security guard Rifat Mahmud (centre) desperately tried to save Ms Laverty and revealed the worker’s last words to the Supreme Court in Darwin.
Mahmud told the jury he shouted at the worker to “come back here” as he held the door to the store’s staff room open.
The security guard desperately tried to save Mr Laverty, who he said was lying next to the toilet and “bleeding badly”.
“He put his hand on me and said, ‘Rifat, save me,'” Mahmud told the court in a report from New Testament News.
‘His eyes were getting bigger, he was bleeding from his mouth. ‘She was suffocating, she couldn’t breathe.’
Mahmud removed his shirt and used it to apply pressure to Laverty’s wounds before beginning CPR.
The security guard also told the jury he shouted for help before an older man entered the store and said of Mr Laverty “poor thing… he’s gone”.
Paramedics arrived four minutes later after a customer, who was inside the bottle shop during the alleged stabbing, made a triple-0 call.
Christel Shuttleworth burst into tears as the jury heard her alarmed triple-0 decision.
Mrs Shuttleworth was heard telling emergency services that Mr Laverty was “not well” and was “losing consciousness”.
She was also heard reassuring Mr Laverty, who was still responsive at the time, telling him that an ambulance was on the way.
Mrs Shuttleworth told the jury she felt uncomfortable the moment she pulled into the bottle shop car park.
She explained that Kerinauia was “lewring” at her while she urinated in the bushes outside the store.
When he entered the BWS, he saw three other customers: a young Indigenous man buying a drink of alcohol at the counter and two others leaving the cold room.
It was then that the young man he saw outside entered the bottle shop and was “provoking” Mr Laverty.
‘He seemed to enjoy being antagonistic. She was looking and smiling,” Mrs Shuttleworth told the court.
‘The deceased said to him: “Friend, you can’t be here without shoes.” The young man was quite antagonistic about it and challenged the deceased.
Keith Kerinauia, 19, is on trial for murder. He allegedly stabbed Mr Laverty several times after he refused her service at the bottle shop (pictured) before fleeing the scene.
He added that Kerinauia kept asking: “Why can’t I? Why can’t I?”, causing Mr Laverty to become visibly distressed and frustrated.
Ms Shuttleworth said Kerinauia threatened Mr Laverty, with Mahmud adding that the 19-year-old told her: “White b***h, you can’t tell me to come out.” What if I come in and stab you?’
Crown prosecutor Marty Aust told the court Kerinauia ran to his vehicle and allegedly armed himself with a large silver knife, described by witnesses as being the length of a ruler, before returning to the store.
The prosecution said Laverty pulled a blade, which was about 5cm long, from his back pocket and took off his shirt as an armed Kerinauia approached.
CCTV footage showed both men punching each other, before Kerinauia was thrown out of the store.
Aust explained that Kerinauia made first contact, which he described as an “insurmountable and fatal” 10.5cm stab to Laverty’s heart.
The worker also suffered a second 3.2cm stab wound to the left side of his chest, as well as five other smaller wounds to his face, head and shoulders, the Crown alleged.
Aust said Kerinauia suffered a small cut to the side of his face and a cut to his chest.
Kerinauia’s defense lawyer Jon Tippett told the court that CCTV footage showed Laverty reached into his back pocket, where he kept his own knife.
He told the court the footage showed his client acting in self-defence after Laverty “enthusiastically” pulled out his own gun and “lunged” at Kerinauia.
Kerinauia’s defense lawyer will argue his client acted in self-defence, claiming CCTV footage showed Laverty (pictured) produced a knife and lunged at the 19-year-old.
Customer Mandeep Singh, who was being served at the time of the attack, told the court on Tuesday that Kernauia did not appear to be “overly aggressive” when he entered the store.
He claimed he heard Kerinauia tell his friends outside the store: “There’s a white guy inside, I’m going to stab him.”
Singh told police he thought the 19-year-old was “talking trash” and “trying to look tough” in front of his friends.
From the car park, Singh also saw blood gushing from Laverty’s wound and Kerinauia fleeing the scene with a “smile on her face”.
He said the young man ran to his car and when he returned a “flash” of a knife was heard under the lights.
The trial continues.