Two teenagers have been issued arrest warrants after Wallabies star Toutai Kefu and three members of his family were stabbed in a violent home invasion.
The youths appeared in Brisbane Youth Court on Thursday for sentencing after pleading guilty to seven charges committed when they were aged 13 and 15, including intentionally causing grievous bodily harm and unlawful wounding.
Judge Ian Dearden said the fallout from the attacks was one of the worst he had seen in his long career.
“I can’t stand looking at pictures (of the crime scene)… there’s more blood there than I ever want to see in my life,” he said.
Wallabies legend Toutai Kefu (pictured outside his home) suffered critical injuries to his abdomen when he was stabbed during the attack.
Kefu’s wife Rachel, son Joshua and daughter Madison were also injured (pictured).
Kefu suffered critical injuries to his abdomen while trying to defend his family in the early morning attack in the inner Brisbane suburb of Coorparoo on August 16, 2021.
His wife Rachel and son Joshua, 21, suffered serious injuries and daughter Madison, 18, was also injured.
Both youths did not enter the Kefu family home, but were charged knowing that their two older co-offenders had weapons and were prepared to use them.
The 13-year-old was on bail at the time for robberies and car thefts and committed 19 similar offenses after the attack on the Kefu family.
The 15-year-old was on parole at the time of the home invasion.
Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane said the four accomplices had decided, in their own words, to go out and look for cars to steal and then use them in street races on the Gold Coast.
“They weren’t naïve, there was a plan to infiltrate,” Crane said.
He said the four teenagers had already participated in a home robbery and a car theft the same morning as the home invasion.
The judge who heard the case said the crime scene photographs were so gruesome that he couldn’t bear to look at them (pictured, police at Kefu’s house after the home invasion).
During that previous robbery, they were confronted by a woman who told them to “get out of my car.”
Crane said both boys should have seen the large cane-cutting sickle the other co-offenders were carrying.
The court heard Kefu’s wife woke up to the sound of car doors and saw the two older boys with guns in their home.
“They told him to shut up or we’ll kill you,” Mr. Crane said.
Kefu heard his wife’s screams and rushed to protect her, but he did not attack the older children, instead telling them to leave and offering them the car keys.
Kefu played 60 games for the Wallabies in a brilliant career that saw him play a major role in Australia’s 1999 World Cup victory.
Their son was stabbed several times while attacking one of the youths after his parents were stabbed.
Kefu’s wife had intended to write the family’s victim impact statement, but found the task too distressing.
The 15-year-old’s lawyer, Edwin Whitton, said the only evidence supporting charges of serious violence was that his client told police he heard an older boy talking about stabbing.
“He was not aware of the horrors that were happening in the house,” she said.
Whitton said his client came from a disadvantaged background and his only intention was to steal cars.
The 13-year-old boy’s attorney, Scott Carter, said his client was remorseful and only learned about what happened at the home after he was arrested.
Kefu’s wife Rachel (pictured together) was too distraught to write the family’s victim impact statement.
Judge Dearden said the only difference between the two boys was their age, given their similar levels of involvement and prior knowledge that violence could be used.
“They were both drunk, neither of them entered the house,” he said.
Both boys were sentenced to two years and six months detention orders with a minimum of 50 per cent to be served with no conviction recorded.
The 15-year-old was released with 464 days served and the 13-year-old remained in custody to later appear in court on other matters.
“I hope that after committing these horrible, appalling and appalling crimes that you both do not offend again and that your families are proud,” Judge Dearden said.
The two young men who entered the house and attacked the Kefu family will be sentenced in May.