Image: Heber Park. Blacktown District Soccer Football Association
by DOUGAL TSAKALOS-STEWART
A man in his 20’s was taken to Nepean Hospital on Monday night after being “slashed” in the neck with a box cutter in Sydney’s west.
The victim has now been discharged from the hospital after being treated from a wound that was “fairly deep” and “a number of centimetres long,” according to NSW Police.
The 24-year-old offender was detained by members of the public after chasing multiple people around with the “box-cutter type knife” during soccer training in Hebersham.
A crime scene was established and a knife was seized for forensic examination.
The offender was charged with two counts of stalk or intimidate intent to fear physical harm, common assault, and wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm according to NSW Police.
Mount Druitt Police Area Command Detective Chief Inspector Paul Tickner stated that the assailant was “familiar to the Mount Druitt area” and that mental health had not been ruled out as a potential factor for his actions.
The man has been refused bail and appeared before Mount Druitt Local Court on the 30th of April, with the listing not being available at the time of publication.
The Blacktown District Soccer Football Association, who cancelled their scheduled training for that night, released a statement following the incident.
“We applaud the bravery of the citizens who apprehended the offender,” they said.
Sydney has recently suffered a large amount of knife related crimes, including the attack at Bondi Westfield and at Wakeley Church.
1497 counts of assault and robbery were carried out with a knife in Sydney within the last year, according to a NSW Bureau Of Crime Statistics Report.
NSW Premier Chris Minns has been discussing a revamp of the current knife laws in NSW since the Bondi attack.
“Obviously when people are being killed and you’ve got a situation where a knife is being used, then it would be irresponsible not to look at,” Minns stated in a 2GB interview following the attack at Wakeley Church.
NSW Legislation on Criminal Amendment specific to knife crimes currently restricts custody of a knife with the exception of a valid excuse such as consumption of food, or lawful pursuit of a person’s occupation, education or training.
Minns will be looking to improve the legislation policy on public inspections of weapons by bringing Jack’s Law policies to NSW.
Jack’s Law provides police with the authority to carry out random inspections of knives in public places using a metal detector.
Minns has been reported to have met with Brett Beasley to possibly bring Jack’s Law policies into NSW.
Brett’s son Jack was fatally stabbed in 2019 at the age of 17 while out with his friends in Surfers Paradise.
Brett set up the Jack Beasley foundation, which was huge advocate for new laws to be brought in by the Queensland government.
Since the induction of Jack’s Law on the 2nd of April last year, over 400 knives have been seized by Queensland Police.
Deputy Commissioner of Queensland Police Shane Chelepy stated, “The successful seizure of more than 400 weapons is a testament to Jack’s Law and has no doubt saved members of the public from harm.”
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