'He had so much to live for': Mother blames son's suicide on Apex carjacking
The heartbroken mother of a carjacking victim who took his own life has blamed her son’s death on Melbourne’s notorious Apex gang.
Denise Scott said the tragic death of her son, Sam Newman, was a result of the intense PTSD he suffered when Issac Gatkouth and an accomplice rammed his car with a stolen BMW in November 2015.
Mr Newman was on the way home from a Melbourne nightclub in his Ford XR6 when Gatkouth got out of the stolen car and pointed a sawn-off shotgun at his head, demanding the keys to his car.
"He was doing okay until the carjacking. That just screwed him up big-time. He had so much to live for," Mrs Scott told the Herald Sun.
“We don’t know how to live without him.”
That stolen BMW was later passed on to another suspected Apex member who, three days later killed mother-of-two Amanda Matheson while travelling on the wrong side of the road.
“It’s got to stop. I don’t want anyone else to be pushed over the edge. Our case is tragic but there are lot of other people who are being traumatised,” a heartbroken Mrs Scott added.
“How would they feel if it was someone from their family? That’d be a different story.”
Gatkouth was reportedly high on ice at the time of the armed car-jacking and had not slept for two weeks.
Before he was sentenced to 20-months in youth detention, a court heard of the horrific upbringing Gatkouth endured as a child.
His two brothers were killed in conflict in Sudan, his father was killed when he was just two years old and his entire village was completely wiped out.
Acknowledging his troubled past, the mother of his victim said Gatkouth had abused the systems in place that had reached out to pull him from that life of mayhem.
“He abused it in every sense of the word," said Mrs Scott.
“What sort of person are you to come from a war-torn country and do this.”
If you are concerned about the mental health of yourself or a loved one, seek support and information by calling Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visiting the Lifeline website.
