By Sally Rawsthorne
The man accused of attacking his former girlfriend outside an Alexandria gym allegedly stabbed her so hard that the kitchen knife he was using broke into three pieces.
Anthony Monteleone, 45, pulled up next to his former girlfriend’s car in the car park of Crunch Fitness Alexandria on Wednesday afternoon, police sources not authorised to speak publicly told the Herald. When she left the gym and walked to the driver’s side of her car, he allegedly got out of his black Subaru and tackled her to the ground.
Anthony Monteleone. Credit: Facebook
Then, police will allege in court, he stabbed her so hard that the knife he was wielding broke apart at the handle and the blade split in two.
The woman, whom the Herald has chosen not to name, suffered her neck, ear and head injuries. She left hospital in a stable condition on Friday afternoon.
On Friday, Monteleone briefly faced Manly Local Court on screen from Surry Hills police station wearing a hospital gown. He was refused bail on one count of wounding with intent to murder (domestic violence) and breaching an apprehended domestic violence order.
If convicted of the wounding offence, he faces a maximum of 25 years’ imprisonment.
Court documents obtained by the Herald on Friday reveal the lead-up to the alleged stabbing attack, including 14 emails in two days, beseeching voicemails and dozens of phone calls.
The pair had been involved for eight weeks until April 18, when the woman discovered the father-of-two messaging another woman. She ended the relationship, and police took out an apprehended domestic violence order (ADVO) for her protection two days later, prohibiting him from contacting her.
Across a four-day blitz, Monteleone sent the woman 14 emails and left her back-to-back voicemails, saying, “Please can you just talk to me? I won’t bother you ever … I just want to tell you a few things, please, I want no trouble please” and “I just want to have a quick chat with you, please, that’s all I’m asking for. I’ve left you alone, I’ve done everything, please.”
He tried to call her from his number, private numbers and FaceTime; he sent her text messages begging, “Can you please call me that’s all I want.”
The documents detail how, a week after the ADVO was put in place, the woman drove to Burwood police station to report Monteleone’s breaches. On her way, she saw Monteleone’s car following her.
“The victim panicked and decided to return to her home. The accused then followed the victim from Burwood all the way back to Abbotsford. Fearful, the victim contacted her friend to meet her at her home address,” court documents say.
The next day, he tried to call her seven times in 12 minutes; later that evening, he was picked up by police and refused bail for two counts of contravening an ADVO.
On April 29, he faced Manly Local Court, where he immediately pleaded guilty and was given a non-custodial sentence and a two-year ADVO prohibiting him from contacting the woman, stalking her or going within 100 metres of her.
Court documents say he admitted to repeatedly contacting her but denied following her in his car.
Ten days later, police say, he attacked her with a kitchen knife in the car park of Alexandria’s Crunch Fitness, wounding her neck, head and ear.
Monteleone’s alleged attack came several weeks after Molly Ticehurst was allegedly murdered by former boyfriend Daniel Billings. Ticehurst, 28, also had an ADVO to protect her from her ex.
Ticehurst’s death – branded “brutal” by senior police – sparked a national conversation about domestic violence.
NSW Premier Chris Minns this week flagged tightening bail laws for high-risk domestic violence offenders.
“We do need change,” he said on Thursday after the alleged attack in the gym car park. The scale of the problem is growing, not diminishing.”
Monteleone will return to court in mid-July.
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