- Wallabies great and his family were attacked in August 2021
- Toutai Kefu suffered life-threatening injury in stabbing
A pair of teenagers who invaded the home of Wallabies legend Toutai Kefu and stabbed him and his wife have had a huge legal win after a court ruled they should not receive more jail time or have convictions recorded against them.
In June last year the two teens – who cannot be named for legal reasons – were convicted of storming into Kefu’s Brisbane home on August 16, 2021 in an attempt to steal cars.
Kefu’s wife Rachel disturbed them in the early hours of the morning. She and Toutai were both stabbed, as was their son Joshua and daughter Madison.
The Wallabies legend suffered life-threatening injuries and his wife’s arm was cut to the bone.
The pair were jailed for seven and eight years with no convictions recorded, with Justice Peter Davis ruling the pair had to serve half of those sentences before they could be released.
That meant one of the teens would have been eligible to be freed within six months of being convicted.
Wallabies great Toutai Kefu is pictured outside the Brisbane house where he was stabbed by a teen home invader in August 2021
Kefu is pictured outside the home with his children, two of whom were also attacked
The Queensland attorney-general lost an appeal against the sentences when three judges in the state’s Court of Appeal made their ruling on Tuesday.
The judges ruled the teens should not have convictions recorded and said the attorney-general had failed to prove the sentences were manifestly inadequate.
One teen who only stabbed Mr Kefu served his sentence and is now free, while the other boy is due to be released on August 18.
Ben Cannon – a neighbour of the Kefus who was assaulted by the teens when he came to the family’s aid – lashed out at the appeal verdict on Tuesday.
‘The news in a sad way, it’s not unexpected,’ he said.
‘It seems like the system has more tolerance for injustice than it does for justice and it seems to always favour those who commit the crimes.
‘This shows the system needs a total upheaval,’ he said.
‘We need a system that understands that unless we catch these kids earlier and we steer them in a different direction … then we will end up with more and more victims.’
Rachel Kefu (pictured with husband Toutai) was attacked with a sickle during the terrifying ordeal
Pictured: Police officers at the scene of the crime just hours after the home invasion
Rachel Kefu disturbed the intruders at 3.10am, with her screams awakening her husband, who jumped over a banister from the upstairs bedroom to defend his wife.
Both teenagers attacked him, but only one was found to have stabbed him in the chest. The knife penetrated 25mm into his liver.
The other assailant attacked Rachel, cutting her with a sickle after they offered him their car keys, giving them the opportunity to leave the home.
‘We want the keys to the car or we will hurt her,’ the teens said at the time of the attack.
The couple’s son Joshua, who was 21 at the time, also suffered deep cuts to his back and arm, as well as a dislocated shoulder, where their 18-year-old daughter Madison’s hand was cut.
‘The sickle cut Mrs Kefu literally to the bone, so I mean quite apart from the fact that it looks like a fairly wicked weapon,’ Justice Davis said, adding that the inside of the home looked like a ‘war zone’ with blood ‘splashed and smeared’ throughout the property.
The pair of teens were initially charged with attempted murder but the charges were downgraded following a plea-deal.
Both juveniles pleaded guilty to seven charges, including four counts of malicious act with intent, burglary and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
One of the teens pleaded guilty to two further charges, including the assault of Cannon.
‘I constantly experience flashbacks of the crime and I am still plagued by the graphic memories of my family fighting for lives, to survive, that night,’ Rachel Kefu told the court before the boys were sentenced.
‘I cannot erase these images … it was so traumatic and continues to feel painfully raw.’