Three men have pleaded guilty to killing Irish teenager Cian English, 19, in Australia

Cian English, 19, originally from the town of Carlow but living in the Brisbane suburb of Hawthorne, suffered traumatic injuries when he fell from a fourth floor balcony at the View Pacific Resort in Surfers in the early hours of Saturday 23 May 2020 Paradise crashed .

Lachlan Paul Soper-Lagas, 21, Hayden Paul Kratzmann, 23, and Jason Ryan Knowles, 25, were sentenced by the Southport Magistrates Court to stand trial in the Queensland Supreme Court in Brisbane in May last year.

So far, Super Lagas could not be named for legal reasons, but the court ordered that his name may now be published. The three men were aged between 18 and 22 at the time of Mr English’s death.

All three have been charged with murder but have now agreed to a settlement and plead guilty to manslaughter instead of murder, two to torture, two to armed robbery using actual violence, assault, assault and theft on May 23, 2020 .

The trio, who appear in Queensland Supreme Court on the first day of a two-day trial, have been indicted. Chief Justice Helen Bowskill Court III was informed by defense attorneys at 1pm that all the defendants had agreed to a settlement.

Kratzmann and Soper-Lagas have been in custody since the fatal incident, Soper-Lagas is being held in custody on bail.

The court was told Kratzmann, from Caboolture, had previously been convicted of breaking into pharmacies and stealing large quantities of medicines and that Knowles, who was born in Sydney, had a history of armed robbery. Soper-Lagas had no criminal history in Queensland.

The court heard Mr English had partied with a friend before inviting the group from the flat directly above them to join them.

He then fell to his death when he was robbed at knifepoint by the three men following the apartment party at which the three men had been taking heavily prescription drugs. Mr English attempted to escape but tragically fell to his death.

Their indictment will now be followed by motions for sentencing and tomorrow’s sentencing.

A spokesman for the Supreme Court said: “The conviction depends entirely on how long the submissions of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the defense attorneys last.”

“The Chief Justice has made it clear to the Crown Prosecutor in court that there is no reason why any of the three defendants cannot be named in this judgment.”

There is a large part of the victim’s family, his mother Siobhan, his brother Dylan, relatives who have traveled from Ireland and friends in court. The teenager’s father, Vincent, was present during the court hearing via video feed.

The Irish teenager lived with his parents Siobhan and Vinny and older brother Dylan. The family left Ireland 20 years ago, first for the Caribbean where Cian’s father worked for Digicel and then settling in Brisbane in 2011.

His ashes were interred in St Mary’s Cemetery, Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, a few weeks after his death.