Residents who heard the desperate screams of a man being stabbed to death at a bus stop in Sydney’s inner west overnight have described how they tried to run to the victim’s aid, only for the alleged attacker to chase them.
One resident, Pete Smith, said he armed himself with a baseball bat and, with the help of other onlookers, subdued the 28-year-old man before police arrived and arrested him.
“He tried to run a couple of times. I said, ‘Don’t run buddy, because I’m going to break your legs and I’m gonna crack your skull,’ ” Mr Smith told Nine News.
Police said the 51-year-old victim is not believed to have known the man accused of murdering him.
The unprovoked attack occurred on the corner of Salisbury Road and Church Street in Camperdown just after 9pm on Thursday.
The older man is believed to have been waiting for a bus to his home in Earlwood when he was stabbed repeatedly in the chest.
One police source said the man was simply “in the wrong place at the wrong time”.
Police and paramedics arrived at the intersection, which is not far from the University of Sydney and several blocks from King Street in Newtown, to find the victim lying on the road with multiple stab wounds. He was bleeding heavily from his face and chest, witnesses said.
Paramedics took him to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, which is 500 metres from the bus stop, but he died a short time later.
One witness said he had heard the man screaming for his life, saying “He’s going to stab me to death!”
Mr Smith, who lives nearby, said his daughter heard the screams and ran towards the injured man as he was lying on the street.
“She runs out, runs down the road and a bloke’s been stabbed on the road. She goes to his rescue, and the offender chased her,” Mr Smith said.
Mr Smith said he armed himself with a baseball bat and helped to subdue the alleged offender.
“I made him drop the knife. Then I got them to bring him down and sit him in front of the green building just there, under the light where I could see him.
“He chased my daughter; he’s lucky I didn’t do something there and then, only I held myself back.”
Another resident, Emma, told Fairfax Media her neighbour was in the garage of their apartment block when he heard someone yelling, “Help! Help! Help!”
“He ran to the side door and opened it, and the guy with the knife just started running towards him. He [the neighbour] slammed the door in his face,” said Emma, who did not want her surname used.
She said her neighbour was shocked and could barely speak when he came back upstairs.
Emma said a woman then ran up the street, yelling, “Dad, dad, grab the bat!”
Emma said her boyfriend was overseas, and she had been concerned about his safety while he was travelling.
“I was so worried about him travelling, with everything that’s going on in the world, and then this happened right beside us. I was walking right past there half an hour before that. It’s so crazy,” she said.
The stabbing occurred at a bus stop on the 412 route. The 412 bus passes through Earlwood, where police believe the dead man lived, and a bus was due to arrive at the stop at 9.25pm on Thursday.
The 28-year-old man was charged overnight with one count of murder and two counts of being armed with intent to commit a serious indictable offence.
He was refused bail and is due to appear in Newtown Local Court on Friday.
source:smh.com.au
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