Heartbreaking Injustice: Convicted Killer May Roam Free in 12 Years, While Family Faces a Lifetime of Grief

The family of a doctor tragically slain by an armed teenager has expressed their grief, describing their loss as a life sentence. Meanwhile, the perpetrator could potentially be released in just 12 years.

The assailant, who was 16 at the time of committing the murder of Ashley Gordon, remained expressionless as Victorian Supreme Court Justice Amanda Fox delivered the sentence on Tuesday.

Now 18, the convicted individual received a 17-year prison sentence, with the possibility of parole after serving 12 years.

As the sentence was read, Dr. Gordon’s family and friends, who filled the Melbourne courtroom, reacted with audible gasps and tears.

Ashley’s father, Glen Gordon, voiced his anguish outside the courthouse, stating, “No sentence could ever truly measure up to what we’ve lost. My son was murdered.”

“My son’s been murdered,” he told reporters outside court. 

“In 12 years, (the killer’s) still walking around the streets. We’ve still got our life sentence.”

The teen and a friend broke into Dr Gordon’s Doncaster home in Melbourne’s northeast about 4am on January 13, 2024, stealing shoes, headphones, laptops, a wallet and silver necklaces. 

They went back to a nearby house party before returning to Dr Gordon’s house, planning to steal a Mercedes-Benz in the garage.

Dr Gordon caught them and chased the teens onto the street before following them in his car. 

He got out of the vehicle once they reached a nearby street and the doctor tried to restrain the the boy, telling him police were on their way. 

But the boy pulled out a knife and stabbed Dr Gordon six times before leaving him to die on the ground.

In sentencing the teen, Justice Fox denounced knife crime and described the murder as a brutal attack against an unarmed man.

“You had options – you could have surrendered, you could have left the knife in your pocket, you could have run,” she said.

“You made a very fast and terrible decision – you decided to use your knife to stab Dr Gordon.”

The judge rejected the teen’s claims he was acting in self-defence, finding the boy had lashed out because he was scared he had been caught. 

She found the teen knew Dr Gordon had the legal right to restrain him while waiting for police and it was not reasonable for the boy to react as he did. 

“He was already the victim of your aggravated burglaries and rather than surrender … you chose in that moment to stab him repeatedly,” Justice Fox said.

The judge accepted the killer was a young man who had reasonable prospects of rehabilitation, although those prospects could be dampened by his lack of genuine remorse.

Justice Fox said ultimately the sentence needed to denounce the murder and deter others from committing similar offences, noting how prevalent knife crime was in the state. 

As the teen was led past Dr Gordon’s family after the sentence, Glen Gordon looked directly at the boy and called him “a dog”. 

Dr Gordon’s sister Natalie said the teen had clearly shown no remorse for killing her little brother. 

The Gordon family would continue to push for longer sentences for youth offenders so another family didn’t have to go through the same pain, she said. 

“Punishment’s gone out the window and everyone just gets away with everything,” Ms Gordon told reporters outside court.

“We’ve been calling for it for almost two years now – so it’s a little bit too late for us but hopefully it can help someone else.”