Jamahl John Joseph Agius in court charged with terrifying machete attack

A man has faced court over a terrifying home invasion in Adelaide’s north east, which left a woman in hospital after she was attacked with a machete.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Jamahl John Joseph Agius is no longer accused of any wrongdoing. 

The man police allege assaulted a woman with a machete in her Hampstead Gardens home was later found by police to have drugs in his underpants, a court has heard.

Jamahl John Joseph Agius, 21, of Christies Beach, appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday where a court heard he was known to his alleged victim by the alias ‘Kevin’.

A prosecutor said the woman alleges she knows the defendant “as she uses cannabis” and recognised him upon returning home in the early hours of Sunday morning.

“She came home and there was a male she knew as Kevin at her front door … the victim states she knows Kevin as she uses cannabis,” he said.

“The victim told Kevin she didn’t do that anymore, a short while later approximately seven males attended her address and smashed her front door, the defendant entered the address with a machete (and a group of men).

“Police entered the address and located the victim bleeding heavily, from the laceration to her arm … the defendant was located (elsewhere) with two reusable plastic bags containing cannabis and one plastic bag containing 10 Xanax tablets both bags and drugs matched items located at the front yard of the victim’s address.”

The woman was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The prosecutor said Mr Agius was found with the woman’s blood on his clothing but claimed he was helping her after leaving a nearby party.

A woman is in hospital after she was violently attacked by a man wielding a machete during a home invasion in the early hours of Sunday morning. Picture: Dean Martin

Cameron Robinson, for Mr Agius, said the case against his client is “circumstantial” and applied for bail on his behalf. Prosecution did not oppose the application, but said home detention would be more suitable.

“He was found nearby essentially, but on my instructions, he was at a party,” Mr Robinson said.

“(The prosecution allege) the cannabis and Xanax were found on Mr Agius and those drugs were also stolen from the victim’s house, however in my submission is they are common party drugs and although they were found in Mr Agius’ underpants.”

The prosecutor said the alleged victim and Mr Agius are known to each other with the woman identifying him as a man named ‘Kevin’.

“It’s someone the victim knew as Kevin, she immediately recognised him upon entering onto her premise,” he said.

“We’d say it could be an alias known by a number of associates.”

Magistrate Oliver Koehn said he was prepared to order a home detention report but would not release him on bail unless it was suitable due to the seriousness of the offending.

Mr Agius will next appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court next month.