Broome police charge young man with homicide after 21-year-old found at Cable Beach

Homicide squad detectives have charged a 21-year-old man with murdering another man in Broome, with police alleging the pair were embroiled in a “dispute” before the violence erupted. Police were called to a home on Roe Place in Cable Beach about 9am on Monday where they found a 21-year-old man with critical injuries. It is understood he had been stabbed multiple times. He was given first-aid but he could not be saved and died at the scene. On Tuesday, homicide squad detectives confirmed they had charged a 21-year-old man with murder. He is due to appear in Broome Magistrates Court on Wednesday. Police Commissioner Col Blanch on Tuesday morning said the alleged killing happened amid an alleged “dispute between two people”. “One of them tragically has died and the major crime squad went up there yesterday and are working through the crime scene and are talking to witnesses at this time,” he said. In response to the incident, Broome police have restricted the sale of take-away alcohol at all bottle shops in town for 24 hours. Mr Blanch said police will make the decision to impose such restrictions when they have reasonable ground to be concerned about “breach of the peace”. “The superintendent up there made that decision. I support that decision,” he said. It comes as Broome grapples with a recent crime wave, which has included five children aged 11 and under arrested after threatening staff at a local hardware store with a knife last week. The Broome Advertiser obtained exclusive images of the arrest. It is alleged the group got into the store through a side entrance and one of the juveniles — a 10-year-old boy — threatened a staff member with a knife. One 10-year-old was charged with trespass, making a threat to unlawfully do an act and carrying an article with intent to cause fear that someone would be injured or disabled. A second 10-year-old boy and an 11-year-old boy have both been charged with trespass, while the other two children were released without charge. Mr Blanch revealed on Tuesday those children were released because they were eight and nine years old and too young to be charged. “Now, we can’t charge an eight or nine year old child. That’s what the law says,” he said. “Certainly, property based crime has reduced of what it was last year because of Operation Regional Shield. We’ve got a lot more police there. “But I’ve been very clear on this from the start and very consistent. Police are doing the policing job. We must look at alcohol, we must look at the upbringing of children and where children are at night and we are uniting and working together to make sure we are doing that better.” Mr Blanch said it is only a small number of children who cause the most disruption. “Most of the kids up there are really good kids. They are wonderful. “There’s a couple of key ones ... who are a bit of a Pied Piper and lead other kids astray. So we have to collectively focus on those kids.”