After an eight-day trial, 20-year-old Keith Kerinauia was found guilty of murdering bottle shop worker Declan Laverty.
When the jury announced their verdict in the NT Supreme Court, emotions erupted from both families, with one left devastated, and another relieved.
Kerinuauia's family members made their pain clear after the verdict was delivered.
One slammed his head against a door as he left the building, and uproar outside caused the doors to the Supreme Court to be locked for safety.
It took the jury less than 24 hours to determine its verdict.
Now a convicted killer, Kerinauia awaits his sentencing.
Murder carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 20 years in the Northern Territory.
Declan's mother Samara made a statement outside court after the verdict was delivered.
She said she felt relieved, justice had been served for Declan, and Kerinauia got what he deserved.
Kerinauia's defence lawyer Jon Tippett KC said the guilty verdict was the wrong result.
He says "mandatory sentencing never works for people" and was "certainly not going to work in this case in terms of doing proper justice".
Tippett did not disclose if he would be appealing the result, but said for the time being, the jury has spoken and he respects its verdict.
The Cairns mother lost her son in March last year, after Kerinauia murdered the 20-year-old with a large fishing knife at the Airport Tavern BWS in Jingili.
When Kerinauia's cousin went into the store, Kerinauia got 'agitated and a bit angry' due to him taking some time, so he went inside.
Declan told Kerinauia he couldn't be in the store without shoes on, and the incident quickly escalated.
The convicted killer ran out to his car and grabbed the knife, before plunging the blade more than 10 centimetres into Declan's chest. Declan died a matter of minutes later.
Throughout the jury trial, CCTV footage of the incident, including the moment Declan was stabbed, was played countless times over.
Ms Laverty said there is "absolutely nothing' that can prepare someone to see their son "running with a huge hole in his chest, blood pouring out, and knowing that is the last moment you will ever see him alive".
Kerinauia claimed Declan told him to "come back at 10" because he "wanted to fight him".
However, witnesses have said Declan instead told him to 'leave because the store was closing in 10 minutes," but Kerinauia firmly denied this was the case.
Kerinauia and his lawyers argued self defence.
The jury heard Kerinauia told his Auntie that Declan took the first swing, and "lunged" at him with the box cutter.
The convicted killer also claimed he saw Declan trying to "take a stab at his cousin".
He told the jury he was "trying to defend' himself"in the situation.
However, Crown Prosecutor Marty Aust said in his closing submissions that the stabbing was 'intentional' and described it as a "senseless murder".
Two blood-stained knives were found in Declan's jeans pockets after he died, a box cutter and a fold-out knife.
Kerinauia's knife has never been recovered.
The jury heard BWS employees were not permitted to carry their own knives in the store.
Ms Laverty told police she encouraged Declan to carry a knife for his safety after he was threatened with a screwdriver three weeks before he died.
She said it wasn't so much that she wanted him to carry a knife, she just wanted her son to be safe.
The mother says she has felt "so much guilt" and a sense of responsibility because Declan had the knife, but, she says the stabbing "would have happened that night no matter what he had in his pocket".
Declan's death sparked a huge outpouring of grief from the community and initiated a series of crime policies, gaining national attention.
Ms Laverty created a parliament petition seeking criminal law reform that received more than 26,000 signatures, and numerous walks and rallies have been held following her son's death.
Ms Laverty fondly remembers her son as being funny, sporty and intelligent, with a love for animals.
She says they would talk for hours on the phone, and after they hung up, she would receive a message from him saying, 'I love you, Mum.'
She said whenever she would see her son, she would get hug after hug after hug, before he'd go and "velcro" himself to the dog.
The grieving mother takes Declan with her everywhere she goes, with his ashes in a pendant around her neck.
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