Three men and two girls face court over Cian English murder

Cian English fell to his death from the fourth storey of an apartment on Australia’s Gold Coast was trying to escape being robbed at knife-point, police say. 

Three men and two girls are to appear in an Australian court in connection with the murder of Irish teenager Cian English.

The 19 year-old, originally from Bullock Park, Carlow Town, but who was living in the eastern Brisbane suburb of Hawthorne, suffered traumatic injuries when he fell from a fourth floor balcony at the View Pacific resort in Surfers Paradise at around 3.15am on May 23 during a robbery.

The teenager was living with his parents Siobhan and Vinny and older brother Dylan. The family left Ireland 15 years ago, first to the Caribbean where Cian’s father worked for Digicel and then settled in Brisbane in 2011.

The teenager fell to his death when he was being robbed at knife-point following an apartment party where it is alleged three men, already charged with his murder, were high on prescription drugs. He attempted to escape but tragically fell from the fourth floor balcony.

Two teenage girls, both aged 16, were also subsequently charged with murder, armed robbery and two counts of deprivation of liberty. They cannot be named as both are minors.

The three men charged with Cian’s murder were named by police as, Jason Ryan Knowles, 22, Hayden Paul Kratzmann, 20, and Lachlan Paul Soper-Lagas, 18.

All of the accused have been in custody since their first appearances in court last May.

Spokesperson for the Queensland Police Service, Sgt Raymond Murray said: “The next appearance in court for the accused is September 21 for the (teenage) girls and September 22 for the men with both being held at Southport Magistrates Court.

“The two girls were both charged with one count of murder, one count of stealing, two counts of robbery, two counts of torture and two counts of deprivation of liberty.

“The charges follow the discovery of the teenager’s body at the base of an apartment complex at View Avenue, Surfers Paradise, in the early hours of May 23.” 

Sgt Murray added: ”Detectives will allege a group of people from one unit (apartment) armed with a knife attended another unit where a robbery occurred prior to the man’s death.

“Three men, aged 18, 20 and 22, were previously charged with one count of murder and two counts of armed robbery. On June 2 the three men were also charged with two counts of torture and one count of stealing.

“Investigations into the incident are continuing”.

The teenager’s ashes were laid to rest, in St Mary’s cemetery, Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow, in June beside those of his grandfather John English who passed away last December.