MELBOURNE: A 16-year-old boy from Melbourne on Friday pleaded guilty in a children’s court for his involvement in the stabbing of Indian student Nitin Garg [1], who died in January.
News of Nitin Garg’s death had shook the nation as this was the first racial related death reported in Australia.
The teenager, whose name has not been revealed, has been charged with committing a robbery by stealing Garg’s mobile phone and making a false statement to police in which he denied that his friend had killed the Indian.
The young boy pleaded guilty in a children’s court on Friday.
The youth’s friend and co-accused, also a 16-year-old, has been charged with murdering Garg by stabbing him.
The boy charged with murder indicated in court on Thursday that he planned to plead not guilty at a committal hearing next year.
Garg was fatally stabbed as he walked through a park on the night of January 2, on his way to work at Hungry Jack’s restaurant in Yarraville. He was assaulted in the nearby Cruikshank Park and staggered to the restaurant in a severely injured state and later died in hospital.
The two boys, who were aged 15 at the time of Garg’s death, were arrested by homicide squad detectives and charged.
The teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, appeared in the Melbourne children’s court with his mother.
According to court documents, the accused was an accessory to murder as he demanded that Garg dispose of his mobile phone, ‘The Age’ said.
They said the teenager gave false information to police and made false police statements to protect his co-accused friend.
The court heard on Thursday that Garg, an accountancy student, was twice followed and once threatened with a knife before his death in January.
The teenager will appear for a plea hearing in the Supreme Court later this year. He intends to contest the charge and plead not guilty.
Garg’s murder had sent shock waves back home and came after a series of racial attacks against Indian students in Australia.
Ravi Matah.