The father of a 16-year-old who was murdered on a North Ayrshire beach has said losing him has “devastated our family forever”.
Kayden Moy was fatally stabbed on Irvine beach on May 17 last year, after three teenagers acted together to attack him.
Cole Turley, 18, admitted the killing, while Jay Stewart, 19 and a 15-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons, were found guilty of murder following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
At the same court on Tuesday morning, the judge Lord Scott sentenced both Stewart and Turley to a minimum of 16 years in detention, and the 15-year-old to a minimum of 14 years.
Speaking outside court after the hearing, Kayden’s father Paul Moy said his son had had “his whole life ahead of him”.
“Every birthday, every family gathering, every milestone from now on will be a reminder that he should be here with us,” he said.
“That is the life sentence our family has been given. The choices made that day have devastated our family forever.”
He continued: “We hope today’s sentence sends a clear message that violence has devastating and irreversible consequences.
“One moment of violence has destroyed so many lives, and no family should ever have to endure the pain that we now live with every day.”
He added: “While today’s outcome bring a measure of justice it does not bring peace.
“It does not bring our son back.”
Turley, Stewart and the 15-year-old had been members of the Murray Boys group, while Kayden and others were part of the Himshie group in East Kilbride.
On the day of the attack the teenagers took a train to Irvine after discovering through social media that Kayden and his friends were among a large group of teenagers who had congregated there.
The three had armed themselves with a lock-back knife and a cosh hidden in clothes and a backpack, and once at the beach they threw rocks at people, shouted abuse and brandished weapons.
During the trial of Stewart and the 15-year-old, Kayden’s girlfriend Keryn Knox, who had been with him at the beach, said Kayden had gone up to confront the teenagers.
Ms Knox told the court: “I went up with him to try and stop him. At that point he had run up the hill and he was just shouting stuff back.
“Then Cole ran in from the side and Kayden has seen a blade and when he tried to run he slipped, and when he tried to get back up Cole has stabbed him in his left lower side twice.”
She told the court: “His body turned completely white and his limbs were blue and people were crowding round him, trying to put his T-shirt over the wound.”
Medics battled to save Kayden’s life but he died at Crosshouse Hospital in the early hours of the following morning.
Sentencing the teenagers, Lord Scott told them they had gone to the beach that day with the intention of carrying out an attack on a member of the Himshie group.
“All three of you travelled to Irvine beach armed, and your intent was reprisal for some slight hurt caused to someone associated with your group,” he said.
“Two of you took weapons including, in the case of Cole Turley, the knife with which Kayden Moy was stabbed and murdered.
“Kayden Moy’s death was pointless and unnecessary.
“Your victim could have been any one of the Himshie group, but Kayden was the one who slipped and fell.
“After the attack, consistent with the jury’s verdict that you didn’t care whether Kayden lived or died, you appeared to celebrate what you had done.”
He said after the stabbing they had tried to conceal their involvement in this “appalling crime”, which he said was in keeping with it having been a planned attack.
None of the three teenagers showed any reaction as the sentences were handed down.
Moira Orr, who leads on homicide for the Crown Office said: “The three accused, all teenagers, made themselves potential murderers the moment they armed themselves with at least one knife.
“And murderers they became. One of them – Cole Turley – struck the fatal blow but prosecutors proved that all three were part of the planning and execution of the crime.
“They are all guilty and all now have been convicted of murder. It is difficult to adequately express the devastation caused by their decision to carry a bladed weapon.
“A young life ended by knife crime, a family left in agony, teenage friends and witnesses traumatised and a community damaged.”
