Sky News journalist Peter Stefanovic could have forced a young million-dollar winner to apologize for a criminal act, but the question has provoked scorn rather than praise from viewers.
Keegan Payne, 19, who lives in the Northern Territory town of Katherine, caught a barramundi that had been released with a tag that could be redeemed for a $1 million prize in the Katherine River on Sunday.
However, his joy at winning the million-dollar nine-year-old fishing competition was cut short by a direct question from Mr. Stefanovic about a crime Payne had committed when he was 16, and which he admitted to.
“There is a claim online that you stole a Polaris Ranger and a Polaris quad that you and your friends stole and damaged from a business a few years ago, first of all, is that true?” Mr. Stefanovic asked from the studio from Sydney during the conference. live interview.
Payne, speaking from the Darwin, responded simply: “Yes.”
“So what happened?” Mr. Stefanovic asked.
Payne explained that he and his friends “were young and “weren’t thinking at the time,” but when the idea came to them, they “tried it.”
Stefanovic asked Payne if he regretted the act and he said he did it “big time.”
Social media users were unimpressed with figures saying Stefanovic had ruined Payne’s good fortune.
Keegan Payne (pictured, center left) is excited as he announces his catch of the million-dollar fish.
‘The journalist hears good news. He goes out of his way to dig up dirt and be negative,” one wrote.
“He made a mistake and took the blame and was forgiven long before this victory!!!!!” said another.
‘Shitty reporting as usual,’ commented another.
An Australian asked why people couldn’t be Happy for this child?
‘No one is perfect, but shaming them on TV? Talk about ripping the rug out from under him! Stop kicking people when they advance!
‘It shows the mentality of morons who like to ruin other people’s happiness!
Some thought Payne was not being given a chance to make amends.
“He’s a young man trying to right his wrongs and that’s fine, it just shows that he’s helping more than just himself and his family and it’s good that he’s making the first contact to right it since he’s actually been able to,” one person said. saying.
“Hats off to the boy for turning his life around by realizing that the road he was on was a dead end and that his life has more value than that of a thief,” wrote another.
Another simply called Stefanovic “food.”
Sky News presenter Peter Stefanovic has come under fire from those who say he ruined the teenager’s moment.
WhatsNew2Day Australia can reveal the teenager is back in touch with his old boss, Bob Cavanagh of Cav’s Mowing, and has offered to pay him back for the stolen vehicles.
“Out of the blue this morning, his dad called me and said, ‘Keegan wants to pay you,’ and you could have knocked me down with a feather,” Mr. Cavanagh said.
“He said Keegan had always felt very bad about what he did.”
Cavanagh hired Keegan as a laborer for his grounds maintenance business when he was 15.
But during the Covid lockdowns, Cavanagh decided to move to Queensland and left his team unsupervised.
Keegan and a friend took the opportunity to steal his quad and buggy.
‘They were only 16, you know? “There aren’t many of us who get through life without getting stuck at some point,” said Mr Cavanagh.
‘If they can give you a second chance, that’s what I was willing to do for those two kids. I hope you made the best of it.
“There’s no point in going through this life holding grudges.”
Cavanagh said the robbery was a “one-off” mistake by a “good guy.”