Woman sentenced to life behind bars for 'senseless' Gold Coast stabbing murder

Freedom Mona Maunsell Anderson, 23, was found guilty of the fatal stabbing after a jury trial. 

The court heard she had a knife in her backpack when she and an acquaintance met Nicholas Braid, 35, outside the Beachcombers resort in Surfers Paradise in April 2020.

CCTV footage played to the court showed Anderson strike at Braid before he collapsed to the ground and she fled. 

Braid had suffered a 13cm deep knife wound and died shortly after. 

The court heard Anderson told an undercover police officer following her arrest, that she usually did not carry a knife, and “preferred to use her fists”.

Anderson had been angry and felt that Braid had been lying to her about his name. 

This was a “petty grievance”, crown prosecutor Stephen Muir said.

The court heard Anderson moved to Australia on a temporary visa from New Zealand when she was a child.

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Her defence argued she had a troubled childhood and was using drugs by the time she was 13.

Anderson had pleaded guilty to manslaughter, which her lawyers said indicated she accepted responsibility for killing Braid.

Braid’s devastated parents gave victim impact statements to the court, describing his “all-encompassing grin”.

“It is hard not to lose hope when you lose a child,” his mother, Michelle Braid, said. 

She has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer, but told the court her son’s loss was “far more shattering”.

Outside court, Abigail Braid thanked the witnesses and police for giving her brother a voice.

“It goes without saying we will always be devastated,” she said.

“(Nick) was very intelligent … full of life, (he had) so much potential.”