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Speaker 1: As we know well, twenty year old Keith Kiranoa has

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Speaker 1: been found guilty of murdering Darwin Bottle shop worker Declan Lavity.

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Speaker 1: Twenty witnesses, including police, forensic experts, and Kiranoa himself, gave

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Speaker 1: evidence during the eight day trial in the Supreme Court

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Speaker 1: of the Northern Territory. The jury began deliberations on Wednesday afternoon,

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Speaker 1: returning a unanimous verdict just before eleven o'clock yesterday. The

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Speaker 1: courtroom erupted with emotion when that verdict was handed down.

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Speaker 1: Declan's mother, Samara, joins me in the studio right now, Samara,

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Speaker 1: good morning to you, Thanks for your time.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie, thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: Now, what was your reaction when you heard the guilty verdict?

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Speaker 2: Massive? Massive relief, massive relief.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I can't imagine really what the last

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Speaker 1: few days have been like for you, going through the

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Speaker 1: evidence as it's been handed down, hearing from the witnesses.

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Speaker 1: Can you talk me through some of what you have

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Speaker 1: felt over the last eight days.

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Speaker 2: Agonizing, emotional pain, watching that footage time and time and

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Speaker 2: time again, and then have it broken down to frame

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Speaker 2: by frame and seeing every single thing that happened. There's

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Speaker 2: some images that I'm never ever going to get out

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Speaker 2: of my head, not ever.

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Speaker 1: The strength that you've shown to be able to view

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Speaker 1: those images, I think is nothing short of phenomenal. I

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Speaker 1: cannot even begin to imagine what it's been like for you,

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Speaker 1: having to see those final moments.

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Speaker 2: It's been hard, but I promised him that I would

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Speaker 2: be there for every single second. He can't be there.

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Speaker 2: He's got no way of representing himself. I'm his mum,

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Speaker 2: and I'll do that as much as I can the

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Speaker 2: rest of my life.

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Speaker 1: Samara, Do you feel as though justice has been served?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely? Yeah, definitely the right outcome occurred and we're really

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Speaker 2: really grateful that the jury we're able to see what

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Speaker 2: we could see. And yeah, we definitely feel like justice

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Speaker 2: has been served for Declan's been vindicated, but also that

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Speaker 2: the offender is now no longer alleged and is now

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Speaker 2: a convicted murderer, and we feel that's the right outcome.

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Speaker 1: And you know, what are your feelings now that the

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Speaker 1: trial is over and knowing that that part of this

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Speaker 1: nightmare is over.

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Speaker 2: It is a relief. It's been hanging over our heads

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Speaker 2: since the nineteenth of March. There's been so much back

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Speaker 2: and forth about Declan's role in all of it that

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Speaker 2: at the end of the day, it didn't matter.

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Speaker 1: Who or what he was.

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Speaker 2: He was targeted and just for being at work and

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Speaker 2: doing his job, refusing entry based on the no shirt,

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Speaker 2: no shoes policy, and for that he died tomorrow.

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Speaker 1: You spoke about the pain that you felt when you

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Speaker 1: were when you were throughout the case because of the

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Speaker 1: knife that he had. How like, how has that been

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Speaker 1: for you reliving that and and and having to talk

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Speaker 1: about that exceedingly painful.

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Speaker 2: I felt like it was my fault for a very, very,

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Speaker 2: very long time. And it wasn't until sort of the

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Speaker 2: last week or so when it came out in court

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Speaker 2: that everyone thought it was a box cutter, even to

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Speaker 2: the point that it wasn't until the end of October

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Speaker 2: last year that anyone even realized that the weapon that

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Speaker 2: Declan was able to use was his knife. The box

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Speaker 2: cutter was tested, and it wasn't until the testing from

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Speaker 2: that came back because Declan's knife was found folded in

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Speaker 2: his pocket. So to me, that shows that he literally

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Speaker 2: only used it to protect himself and defend both himself

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Speaker 2: and every other single person in that store.

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Speaker 1: What's it must have been hard for you carrying that guilt.

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Speaker 2: It's nearly destroyed me. I was very much like I

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Speaker 2: never specifically said, heye, carry a knife. I was just like, mate,

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Speaker 2: please just stay safe. And clearly that was for good reason.

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Speaker 1: Are you touched on the fact that you have obviously

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Speaker 1: gone through You have watched that CCT footage from the

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Speaker 1: night of the tragedy. It was played to the jury.

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Speaker 1: You've spoken about how difficult that was for you. Is

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Speaker 1: there anything from those moments that you want to share with,

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Speaker 1: like with the audience, that you want people to know.

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Speaker 2: I want people to know that Declin had no choice.

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Speaker 2: He was he was He was threatened with being stabbed,

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Speaker 2: and sadly it was simply due to the color of

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Speaker 2: his skin. Race should never come into any of it,

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Speaker 2: but he was targeted because he was white, and that

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Speaker 2: was said numerous times by the offender. He had no choice.

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Speaker 2: If he had turned and run for the back door,

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Speaker 2: he could have been stabbed in the back. Instead, he

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Speaker 2: chose to stand his ground, for which I am exceedingly

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Speaker 2: proud of him. He stood up to a criminal bully

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Speaker 2: who did not like that, and even though he lost

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Speaker 2: his life to us, he's a hero.

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Speaker 1: Now. Kieran Oa is facing a minimum of twenty years

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Speaker 1: behind bar given the Northern Territories non parole period for murder,

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Speaker 1: and it remains to be seen as to whether he'll

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Speaker 1: make an appeal. What's your reaction to the possibility of

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Speaker 1: that happening.

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Speaker 2: We haven't let ourselves go there yet. We're just still

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Speaker 2: trying to process the fact that he was found guilty

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Speaker 2: anything over and above that. Whatever happens after sentencing, we'll

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Speaker 2: deal with that as it comes. But for right now,

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Speaker 2: we're just happy knowing that we got the right outcome.

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Speaker 1: Samara, do you feel as though you've got the closure

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Speaker 1: that you need?

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Speaker 2: Partly having that hanging over our heads, we did not

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Speaker 2: realize how much it had affected us until it was

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Speaker 2: taken away. We knew it was murder. We saw that

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Speaker 2: on the CCTV, and we're just really glad that the

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Speaker 2: jury were able to see that too.

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Speaker 1: I understand there was a lot of emotion in the

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Speaker 1: courtroom yesterday. Yeah, how how was that?

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Speaker 2: That was scary? That was really really scary. Like I

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Speaker 2: understand that his family were upset. Their reaction caused the

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Speaker 2: lot of the court house to go into lockdown. Threats

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Speaker 2: were made, insults were thrown, and we were genuinely scared.

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Speaker 2: We thought we were going to be assaulted, and assaulted

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Speaker 2: quite badly just due to their reaction. And like, I

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Speaker 2: totally get that they're upset and they're hurt, but that reaction,

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Speaker 2: it's just unacceptable.

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Speaker 1: How are you and your daughter going today?

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Speaker 2: Well, for the first time in fifteen months, I actually slept,

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Speaker 2: and I have not slept a full night since. Bridget

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Speaker 2: is very a lot more at peace being eighteen. She's

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Speaker 2: found it very hard to deal with. But yesterday afternoon

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Speaker 2: we had a celebrated, celebratory glass of champagne and we

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Speaker 2: all sat and we toasted Decline and there was just

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Speaker 2: a general feeling of finally we can breathe again.

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Speaker 1: How do you want Territorians to remember your boy Funny?

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Speaker 2: He was funny, he was so loving and his love

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Speaker 2: for animals dogs in particular. Yep, But yeah, just as

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Speaker 2: a really kind hearted young man who loved us, loved

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Speaker 2: his animals and just had the work at his feet.

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Speaker 1: And Samaria, you're heading back to Cairns in the coming days. Yes,

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Speaker 1: we are.

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Speaker 2: We're ready to go home. Yeah, it's been a long

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Speaker 2: couple of weeks and yeah, we need to go home now.

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Speaker 1: Well, I really appreciate you coming in to speak with

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Speaker 1: us this morning. I cannot I can't even begin to

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Speaker 1: imagine how tough this has all been. And and yeah,

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time. And and I mean before

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Speaker 1: I let you go, are you how are you feeling?

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Speaker 1: You know, when you look at the state of the

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Speaker 1: of of what's gone on in the Northern Territory, you know,

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Speaker 1: over the last well year you've really pushed, you have

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Speaker 1: pushed in a lot of ways for the government to

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Speaker 1: take greater action when it comes to uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: to to crime. Like how are you sort of viewing

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Speaker 1: things as you are heading back to cans.

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Speaker 2: I do think there is a stronger focus on sorting

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Speaker 2: crime out now, but the reaction that we got yesterday

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Speaker 2: in the courtroom sort of shows that there's still a

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Speaker 2: lot of work, a lot of work that needs to

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Speaker 2: be done. This should never have happened. The offender had

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Speaker 2: a significant criminal history and should never have been out

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Speaker 2: on bail, and we strongly feel that had he not

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Speaker 2: been out on bail, Declan would still be here living

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Speaker 2: his life the way he should be.

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Speaker 1: Samara lavities. Thank you for your time this morning. I

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Speaker 1: really appreciate it, and well I don't know when we'll

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Speaker 1: talk again, but I appreciate all the time that you've

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Speaker 1: given us. Thank you very much.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me and allowing me

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Speaker 2: to have a voice.

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Speaker 1: Thank you. Thanks Samara,