Cameron’s last words: ‘I don’t want to be fighting’

By Alison O’Riordan

BALLINASCARTHY student Cameron Blair said: ‘Don’t worry lad, I don’t want to be fighting’ moments after a teenager had plunged a knife into his neck, the Central Criminal Court was told.

The 20-year-old CIT student, who acted as a peacemaker outside a house party on the Bandon Road in Cork city, was not even aware that he’d been stabbed, the court heard.

A 17-year-old, who cannot be named because he is a minor, appeared in court last Friday for his sentence hearing, having pleaded guilty last month to murdering Cameron on January 16^th.

In an emotional victim impact statement, Cameron’s mother Kathy said that no parent expects to bury their child and called it ‘unnatural’. She will never come to terms with it, she said. ‘Cameron’s murder has shattered our lives. My heart aches every day for the loss of my son. The loneliness can sometimes be overwhelming. Often when I am alone in the house I scream at the injustice of this. How could someone so cruelly take the life of our beautiful boy? Why has this happened to our family? We are not bad people.’