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Speaker 1: Now we know that a page has been launched for Declan,

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Speaker 1: a go fund Me page, and there has been overwhelming

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Speaker 1: support for Declan Lavity's family after he was brutally killed

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Speaker 1: while working at Darwin's Airport Tavern, as we have spoken

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Speaker 1: about on the show, and friends of his family launched

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Speaker 1: the go fund me page to help cover funeral costs,

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Speaker 1: but after reaching their goal amount, the fundraising effort is

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Speaker 1: set to come to a halt. Now joining me on

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Speaker 1: the line is Anton, who is a friend of Declan's mother.

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Speaker 1: My understanding is that they'd formed a strong bond after

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Speaker 1: she'd looked after his dad in hospital. Good morning to you, Anton.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, How are you not too bad?

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Speaker 1: Anton? Firstly, I do want to say how sorry I

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Speaker 1: am to all of you guys, to all of Declan's

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Speaker 1: friends and family. It must be such an incredibly hard time.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, especially for the family. You know, it has been

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Speaker 2: a very difficult time. But all of the support, you know,

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Speaker 2: both financial and emotional. The messages on Facebook have really

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Speaker 2: helped Samaras through some of this, you know, as much

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Speaker 2: as you can at this time.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, even this morning, we've got beautiful messages coming through,

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Speaker 1: you know, saying that deck Leon had served them at

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Speaker 1: that bottle shop, and that he always had a smile

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Speaker 1: on his face and that he was such a beautiful

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Speaker 1: young lad.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely. You know, we've received a lot of messages

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Speaker 2: from people who knew him, or had met him, or

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Speaker 2: didn't know him at all. But you know, I really

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Speaker 2: think it's struck a nerve with people. It's you know,

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Speaker 2: people have family that go to work and they expect

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Speaker 2: them to come home. So I think, you know, in

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Speaker 2: the community, both in Darwen and Cairns and all across

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Speaker 2: the country, really has struck unnerved with people.

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Speaker 1: It most certainly has. It is absolutely struck a nerve

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Speaker 1: for everybody here and and I know that Kansa is

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Speaker 1: an incredibly tight knit community as is done, and so

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Speaker 1: that sense would be felt right across the board. Anton.

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Speaker 1: Can you tell me how much money have you managed

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Speaker 1: to raise for the family so far with this go

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Speaker 1: fundb Paige?

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Speaker 2: So it raised just under twenty two and a half

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars before we stopped it overnight. It just went

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Speaker 2: absolutely crazy and so basically when we got up this

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Speaker 2: morning we were shocked at how much had gone in there.

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Speaker 2: And you know, all we really want to do is

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Speaker 2: help Samara with some of the expenses of getting deck

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Speaker 2: one home and paying for the funeral. And it's just

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Speaker 2: the support has just been completely overwhelming.

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Speaker 1: Twenty two thousand dollars, that's what that is unbelievable.

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Speaker 2: Let's in a day and a half. The generosity of

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Speaker 2: Australia and especially the Darwin and km's communities. It's just,

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Speaker 2: you know, it's uplifting.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, mate, How far and wide were those donations coming from.

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Speaker 2: Well, I know we had at least one from England.

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Speaker 2: We It's difficult to tell on the go family page

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Speaker 2: because it doesn't tell you where people are from, but

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Speaker 2: I do know that there were a lot of people

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Speaker 2: who were involved with the Australian Navy because Samara's father

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Speaker 2: had been in the Navy who donated. There were a

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Speaker 2: lot of people leaving messages who obviously were from Darwin

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Speaker 2: and Cannes. But it's just been coming from everywhere.

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Speaker 1: It is beautiful to hear, you know, it is. It

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Speaker 1: is really nice to hear the way that the community

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Speaker 1: has gotten behind this. Tell me, what have you had

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Speaker 1: the opportunity to speak to Samara about the about you know,

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Speaker 1: the level of community support that has been and what's

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Speaker 1: her reaction been.

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Speaker 2: Well, I haven't spoken to her today and she'll be

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Speaker 2: very surprised to see how much it has been raised.

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Speaker 2: But talking to her yesterday, she she just was so appreciative.

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Speaker 2: She couldn't really put into words, you know, how how

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Speaker 2: much it's touched her to receive all this support, and

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Speaker 2: you know, the financial obviously takes a big burden off

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Speaker 2: her as far as getting her son home, but just

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Speaker 2: all of the messages from people, you know, everything has

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Speaker 2: been positive, you know, and it really is helping her

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Speaker 2: and her daughter and brother and the rest of the

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Speaker 2: family through this whole thing.

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Speaker 1: Well, mate, we spoke to Declan's dad earlier in the

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Speaker 1: week and spoke about the utter heartbreak that that I

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Speaker 1: know he and the whole family is feeling. Please pass

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Speaker 1: on our love to his mum, his whole family, and

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Speaker 1: to all of you guys. You know, I cannot imagine

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Speaker 1: the heartache that they're feeling at this point in time,

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Speaker 1: but please know that the whole of the Darwin community

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Speaker 1: is certainly with them, and you know, if we could

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Speaker 1: wrap our arms around them, we most certainly would.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you. I know that she really appreciates that.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I think she feels that the community is

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Speaker 2: wrapping their arms around her, and you know she does

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Speaker 2: really appreciate that, obviously going through a lot of mixed emotions,

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Speaker 2: but you know, Nicole and I Am and Samara, you know,

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Speaker 2: just really really want to thank everyone for this overwhelming support.

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Speaker 2: You know, out of all of the out of the

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Speaker 2: bad thing that's happened, for people to step up and

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Speaker 2: help like this really shows the best in people.

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Speaker 1: An Tom, thank you so much for speaking with us

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Speaker 1: this morning. I know that this kind of thing's not

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Speaker 1: easy to get on and talk about, so I really

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Speaker 1: really appreciate your time today.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for your time.

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Speaker 1: Thank you