Bashing details revealed

Harrowing details of the assault on Samantha Barlow, the Kings Cross Police Sergeant who was bashed on her way to work last month, were revealed at a Police Community meeting in Kings Cross last week.

Superintendent Tony Crandell told how two other officers on their way to work at around 6am on the morning of May 13 this year saw a suspicious looking man loitering around the bus stop in Craigend Street, the offramp from New South Head Road to Kings Cross.

They contacted their base and a patrol car was sent down to investigate. Nobody was about, so they checked the area. In the nearby park, concealed behind a brick wall, they found a woman on the ground, bleeding from head wounds. Her injuries were so bad they didn’t recognise their colleague until she was able to identify herself.

Police allege that a Dapto man, 39, ambushed Sergeant Barlow as she came out of McLachlan Street Darlinghurst. He dragged her behind the wall and began bashing her head on the wall so hard that when she tried to protect herself with her hand, her fingers were broken in two places. Serious injuries were inflicted to the back of her head and her forehead was torn. Her nose was also badly broken.

“The motive was almost certainly robbery as her handbag and belongings were gone,” said Supt Crandell.

Sergeant Barlow was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital and induced into a coma for the next week and a half. Doctors operated on her head, nose and fingers.

Meanwhile 17 detectives were put on the case. A small armada of police vehicles descended on the site and the whole area was examined by forensic police, right down to fingerprinting all the parked cars in the area.

As word got out, the Kings Cross community united in providing information to police.

“Even people who don’t like the cops, people we lock up, were queuing to provide information,” said Supt Crandell. Valuable information was also provided by sex workers.

“As soon as the severity of the case was known, one of my officers commented that the offender would not be a local,” he said.

Police tracked down the suspect the following day and alerted South Coast police who surrounded an area with 18 officers while the arrest took place.

The suspect allegedly had committed a robbery the day before, and has been charged for that as well as for Attempted Murder.

Sergeant Barlow surprised doctors at the speed of her recovery and she was brought out of her coma early. While her memory is affected, she did not suffer the amnesia that is common in such cases.

At the time of the attack she was returning from Maternity leave and her husband Laurence, a Police Inspector, was left to look after their children including a five-month-old infant, and keep long bedside vigils at the hospital.

Then their two-year-old contracted acute tonsillitis and Inspector Barlow found himself back doing bedside duty at another hospital.

Sergeant Barlow was able to back home last Thursday, stopping off on the way to buy a new handbag as hers had not been recovered.

Police at Chatswood raised $8,800 for the couple.

by Michael Gormly