THE family of a Bendigo teenager fatally stabbed on Energetic Street have described him as a young man who loved life and was devoted to his family.
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Eighteen-year-old Hayden Coleman died on September 10, 2016, when Odin Gillin, 21, stabbed him in the chest during an altercation in front of an Ironbark house.
Gillin pleaded guilty to manslaughter and appeared in the Supreme Court in Bendigo on Thursday, when Mr Coleman’s family had its first chance to tell the court of the lasting impact of his death.
Mr Coleman’s sister Manda Coleman said the death had left a hole in the family that would never be filled.
“Life without Hayden seems unbearable and not worth living,” she said.
“I remember seeing Hady as a happy man, someone full of life and joy.
“I remember the way his big blue eyes made me smile.”
Family members spoke of the night when they found out about Mr Coleman’s death, the confronting scene on Energetic Street when they were unable to approach his body, the ongoing pain of the court appearances and their anger at Gillin.
His father David Coleman recalled having to drive an hour to Bendigo after hearing of the death.
In a statement read to the court, he said that having to say goodbye to his son was “a heartache that will never go away”.
“He’s such a good boy at heart, and would do anything for his family,” Mr Coleman said.
“My son’s life is more important than my own, but yet my son didn’t have a chance at life.”
A history of animosity before fatal Energetic Street stabbing
Energetic Street stabbing victim Hayden Coleman and his killer Odin Gillin had long-standing animosity after they were both involved in committing a crime in Kangaroo Flat three years earlier, a court has heard.
Mr Coleman blamed Gillin for “implicating him” in the crime – planned by Gillin – which resulted in them each serving custodial sentences.
Before then, the pair were friends but their relationship instantly deteriorated.
After their release they regularly exchanged abusive comments and had several physical confrontations, with Mr Coleman referring to Gillin as a “snitch”, and Gillin threatening to stab him.
Seven months before the stabbing, Gillin sent Mr Coleman a message on Facebook that said he “went to jail for slicing someone wait till I see you”, and that “you’ll be dead not just bleeding”.
Gillin had earlier sliced the back and neck of another man in the Bendigo CBD.
In March 2016, Gillin was the victim of a “run-through” at his home when his personal belongings were damaged and he was threatened.
Gillin blamed Mr Coleman for the incident, telling him he was “about to [die] for tonight”.
Mr Coleman replied: “I heared what happen snitch u all right snitch huh (sic)?”
On the day of the stabbing on September 10, 2016, Gillin had taken opioid replacement buprenorphine, smoked cannabis and drunk seven or eight cans of premixed bourbon.
He was driven to Energetic Street by his ex-girlfriend to exchange drugs with a man, but Mr Coleman answered the door.
It was an unplanned encounter, the court heard.
Mr Coleman told him to go away and attempted to push him towards the front gate. It soon escalated into a physical fight which moved from the front yard to the footpath.
What happened next was witnessed by at least seven people, whose accounts varied widely.
During the fight Gillin had moved to the passenger seat of his ex-girlfriend’s car, while Mr Coleman stood in front of the car and told Gillin to “come out on the road” and fight him “one on one”.
When Mr Coleman moved closer to the car, Gillin was seen to lean down into the passenger side and come back up.
Multiple people described Gillin as appearing to “punch” Mr Coleman to the chest, who immediately stepped backwards and shouted “he got me” or “he just stabbed me”.
Mr Coleman had been stabbed to the upper left side of his chest with a knife.
People began attacking Gillin’s ex-girlfriend’s car as she attempted to drive away, smashing the passenger-side and back windows.
Witnesses and attending police attempted CPR on Mr Coleman, but he died about 40 minutes after the stabbing from blood loss and a collapsed lung.
Just days earlier, Gillin had shown his ex-girlfriend a black handled silver bladed knife, about 20 centimetres in length, that he was carrying in his backpack.
Gillin was arrested on September 11 when he expressed his “apparent disbelief” at Mr Coleman’s death.
In a police interview the next day, Gillin lied about seeing Mr Coleman with a knife first, and that he had wrestled the knife off of him. He said he “poked” Mr Coleman with the knife but nothing more, and that the weapon should still be at the crime scene.
The knife was never recovered.
Gillin also claimed Mr Coleman punched him to the back of the head first – an account that was not backed up by any witnesses.
Gillin expressed remorse at Mr Coleman’s death, claiming he was “very upset with how everything’s turned out”.
The court heard Gillin was an “intelligent young man academically” who struggled to apply himself during school.
He turned to drugs and alcohol in his early teenage years, and was introduced to heroin and ice at age 15.
Defence counsel Peter Chadwick QC said Gillin had been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder following an incident in 2013 when he was kidnapped and held hostage by a man who stabbed him with a syringe in East Bendigo.
He has attempted to get residential treatment for his drug abuse on several occasions.
Mr Chadwick said the stabbing of Mr Coleman was a “spontaneous, unplanned, instantaneous action” and that neither man had expected to have the encounter.
He said Gillin lied to police in his first interview because he “simply panicked” and that he “infinitely regrets” his actions.
Mr Chadwick claimed the crime was in the “low to medium” range for manslaughter given the longstanding history between the two men, but Crown Prosecutor Daryl Brown disagreed.
Mr Brown said there was no need to produce a knife.
“To resort to a knife was totally unreasonable and disproportionate to any threat or perceived threat he faced,” he said.
Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said drugs had played a role in the crime, and the discrepancies in the accounts of witnesses were only small given the rapid series of events before the stabbing occurred.
She will sentence Gillin on March 28 in Bendigo.
He has already served 550 days in custody.