Natalie said her brother was the life of the party and always made everyone around him smile.
“It was fantastic to hear that guilty verdict,” she said. “It was just the biggest relief. We can try to start to move forward. We will never move on, but move forward with our lives and remember him in the happiest ways … with his big smile and his cheeky laugh.
“He gave the best hugs … he was honestly just the best person, so caring … his patients were always foremost. He just wanted to be the best doctor.”
Gordon had been woken during the second robbery, jumping in his car and driving around local streets looking for the teens.
A Supreme Court trial was told that after spotting the teenagers, Gordon had chased down one of the boys, then 16, into the driveway of a house.
Natalie and Catherine Gordon outside court. Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
The doctor had said, “There’s no point running, the cops are on their way,” before trying to restrain the boy, the court heard.
But the teenager produced a knife and slashed and stabbed Gordon at least six times, fatally penetrating Gordon’s aorta, injuring his heart and lung.
The boy showed the bloodied knife to his friends and told them, “just killed a guy. Like, he’s dead bro.”
Hours later, a Snapchat video seized by police captured the boy and another teen with him during the burglary burning their blood-stained clothing, the court heard. The jury was told the duo had planned to flee before being arrested.
The 17-year-old boy pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated burglary but not guilty to murder, claiming he was acting in self-defence.
Gordon’s family and friends wiped away tears and held each other as the verdict was delivered following two days of deliberations. The teenage boy stared straight ahead and did not react as the verdict was read out in court.
The family said the teenager had shown no remorse throughout the court proceedings.
“It just cements to me how guilty he is of committing such a horrific crime,” Natalie said outside the court after the verdict.
Gordon’s mother, Catherine, broke down when asked how she felt about the verdict, while his father, Glen, wiped away tears with a blue handkerchief.
“I’m relieved,” Catherine said. “So glad the truth has come out … we will never get him back, nothing will change.”
She said her son had never intended to harm the teens who had robbed his home and had pursued them to perform a citizen’s arrest until police arrived.
“He didn’t go out to hurt them,” she said.
The family said they wanted to see Gordon’s killer “locked up for a long time”.
“Ashley was still young, he still could have had children, he still could have got married, we don’t get any of that so he [the killer] doesn’t deserve to get to have any of that either,” his mother said.
The convicted teenager is to reappear in court on October 3 for a pre-sentence hearing.
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