The moment Brett Beasley was free of the strict rules of court, he raised his arms in triumph and yelled "woo hoo" as the fear of his son's killer being granted early release dissipated.
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Mr Beasley and his wife Belinda had been living with that possibility for three days since getting a call from prosecutors telling them the man who stabbed their son Jack to death in 2019 had filed an appeal.
Jack was aged 17 when he died after being stabbed in the back and chest in December 2019 after a fight broke out between his group and five other teens at Surfers Paradise.
The killer, also a juvenile at the time, wanted his sentence reduced by two years.
After days of tension, the Brisbane Court of Appeal took less than half an hour to hear the application and just a few minutes to refuse the appeal at an early stage.
"That didn't take long, did it? It had to be a no-brainer," Brett Beasley said outside court.
"He got what he deserved, as far as we are concerned. He got it squashed. I'm a bit speechless."
Mr Beasley said it had been devastating to have to return to court and listen to the details of his son's murder being discussed again.
"It's always hard to hear but we got the result today and that's what we were hoping for," he said.
Two teenagers were jailed over the incident that led to Jack's stabbing.
One of the boys, aged 15 at the time, was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment after pleading guilty to murder and committing malicious acts.
The appellant was ordered to serve 70 per cent of the sentence, which is seven years.
His barrister Andrew Hoare had sought to reduce the teen's sentence to five years, which could have seen him released by his 21st birthday.
Mr Hoare told the court the trial judge was incorrect in finding no special circumstances to reduce his client's sentence.
In addition to pleading guilty, his client had also surrendered to police after CCTV of the incident was released to the public.
"He had no prior criminal history and no sign of resistance to rehabilitation," Mr Hoare said.
"His statement made in open court ... had genuine remorse."
Prosecutor Sarah Dennis opposed the application, saying the appellant committed extremely serious offences and delivered what the trial judge described as a "coward blow" by stabbing Jack from behind.
The appeal justices will publish their reasons for refusing the application at a later date.
The Beasley family and friends had earlier started the Jack Beasley Foundation with the slogan "detect knives, save lives".
They advocated for the expansion of Queensland's trial of using handheld metal detectors to scan people for weapons in night club precincts, along with youth education to prevent knife crime and harsher sentences for repeat offenders.
Just over two weeks before Friday's appeal hearing, the Queensland parliament passed Jack's Law to extend the police's trial of "wanding" powers for two years and to include the use of detectors across the public transport system.
Speaking on Friday, Brett Beasley said he now wanted to move forward from the court case and save more lives.
"We have been on a big high with Jack's law, we're super proud of it, we spent a couple of days in parliament and the first weekend there were weapons that were found and there was a weapon found here last night in Brisbane," he said.
Six knives were detected and seized from 586 scans across four days earlier this month.
Jack's mother Belinda said the law could not save her son's life but could save someone else's.
"There are lots of kids out there that have lost their lives to knife crime so if we play our little part, and it's in Jack's name, that's a real honour to him," she said.
Australian Associated Press
