Eleven-year-old boy’s gut-wrenching message to the killer who bludgeoned his father to death

‘I don’t understand why you did it… I hate you’: Eleven-year-old boy’s gut-wrenching message to the man who bludgeoned his father to death in a road rage attack

  • Benjamin Joshua George, 26, pleaded guilty to murdering Troy McLean, 34
  • George’s lawyer said he was on a cocktail of drugs and had not slept in a week 
  • The boy’s mother said her life was ‘constantly filled with grief and heartache’

An 11-year-old Adelaide boy has told the man who murdered his father during a road-rage attack ‘I don’t understand why you did what you did and I hate you’.

Benjamin Joshua George, 26, pleaded guilty to murdering 34-year-old Troy James McLean at Salisbury, in the city’s north, in November 2017.

His lawyer, Heath Barklay, argues George should spend less than the mandatory minimum of 20 years in jail because he is ‘a kind and gentle person’ who was having a mental breakdown.

‘It was a product of a long breakdown, mentally, that led him to taking drugs, that led him to have chronic mental health problems that saw him, on the spur of the moment, make the decision that he did,’ he told the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The court heard Mr McLean’s vehicle nudged the back of George’s car (pictured) at an intersection, prompting George to fling open his door, approach the victim’s car and stab him

Mr Barklay said George was on a cocktail of drugs and had not slept in nearly a week at the time of the murder.

Reading a letter of apology, George told the gallery filled with his victim’s relatives and supporters that he was filled with remorse.

‘Knowing now that I have killed another man eats away at me each second of each day,’ he said.

‘I was walking a dark and dangerous path that tragically ended with one man losing his life and another his freedom.’

George said he had ‘turned a new page’ since his imprisonment, but Mr McLean’s relatives described his actions as horrible and vicious.

In a statement read to the court, Mr McLean’s young son said ‘you took someone very special from me’.

‘I don’t understand why you did what you did and I hate you,’ he said.

Another statement was read on behalf of Mr McLean’s mother, who died recently from cancer.

‘You took away my 11-year-old grandson’s father … leaving him devastated,’ Vicki McLean wrote.

‘My life is constantly filled with grief and heartache.’

Benjamin Joshua George, 26, pleaded guilty to murdering 34-year-old Troy James McLean (pictured) at Salisbury, in the city's north, in November 2017

Benjamin Joshua George, 26, pleaded guilty to murdering 34-year-old Troy James McLean (pictured) at Salisbury, in the city’s north, in November 2017

The court previously heard Mr McLean’s vehicle nudged the back of George’s car at an intersection, prompting George to fling open his door, approach the victim’s car and stab him.

Mr McLean tried to drive himself to a nearby hospital but crashed on the way and died of his injuries three days later.

Justice David Lovell remanded George to face court for sentencing in November.

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