Nine perfect strangers who saved Maria Buci from ex armed with axe in Brisbane’s CBD
In a split second, nine regular perfect strangers became heroes. While many would run away from a piercing scream, they ran towards one – and saved a woman’s life.
Police & Courts
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“For the love of god, think of your mother, think of your sister.”
Fouad Kouzi repeated those words like a mantra as he struggled to pull the enormous man’s hands from their vice-like grip around the woman’s throat. He was desperate to get through, to make him see sense. Brute force was failing and words seemed like the final hope to save the tiny young woman from the madman clearly intent on killing her.
Only minutes earlier Mr Kouzi, a menswear salesman, had been on the phone to his mum as he waited for the bus home from work when he heard bloodcurdling screams coming from the multistorey carpark behind him.
“What was that sound?” his mum asked. Even over the phone, she knew something was terribly wrong.
Still carrying a bag of groceries, he raced after a man and woman he saw running towards the entrance of 280 Adelaide St.
He had never met them before but would later learn their names – Matthew Bannan and Elizabeth Raw, a couple both employed at WorkCover which occupied several floors of the building.
It was July 1, 2020. Covid restrictions were just easing. It was Ms Raw’s birthday and she had spent the day working from home but went into the city to meet Mr Bannan after work. The couple was standing outside the building discussing their plans for the evening when they heard it – a woman screaming for her life, then the sound of a car horn beeping, blasted for seconds at a time.
“I looked at Matt and I said ‘OK something is going on, I’ve got my swipe card in my hand still, let’s go in and find out what’s going on’,” Ms Raw said. The couple, along with Mr Kouzi and another man, Luke St George – who had also been waiting for the bus – ran inside and took the elevator to level five of the carpark.
Mr St George was filming on his phone when they came across the horrifying scene two floors below on level three.
Cameron Turgay Bardak, a musclebound bodybuilder, on top of the then 27-year-old Maria Buci. The young lawyer, who weighed just 55kg at the time, had been ambushed as she left work by her ex-boyfriend Bardak.
He was strangling her while another man, David Sturgess, desperately fought to pull him away from her.
“It was very aggressive, it wasn’t something you kind of ever want to see, it looked like he was trying to kill her,” Mr St George said.
The timely arrival of Mr Sturgess at that scene minutes before almost certainly saved Ms Buci’s life.
Mr Sturgess, or “Dave from IT” as some of his WorkCover colleagues knew him, had just finished his first shift back in the office after working from home during the pandemic.
Wearing a helmet and protective gloves, he was riding his electric scooter out of the carpark just after 5pm when he heard the commotion.
He rode back up to level three where he found Ms Buci pinned against her BMW SUV by Bardak. Dropping his scooter and walking towards them, he called out: “Hey, what are you doing?”
“At that point the man turned around and I saw he had a hand axe in his right hand,” Mr Sturgess said.
Bardak silently stalked towards him, swinging the axe down, striking Mr Sturgess on the hand he had put up to defend himself, cutting through his riding gloves and opening a gash that would need stitches to close. Without a word, he turned his attention back to Ms Buci, swinging the hatchet down on her, connecting at least twice.
“I managed to grab his arm as he was swinging … and grab the axe, and I twisted it and it came out of his hand,” Mr Sturgess said.
“I ran and threw it into a corner, just to get it away, and when I turned around and came back, I found him with the woman flat on the ground behind the car.
“I was trying to distract him or get him off her, and I hit him a couple of times around the back of the head to no effect, I tried punching him in the kidneys to no effect.”
It was in that position that the group of four people found them when they raced inside.
It took all five of them to free Ms Buci, who began running away with the help of Mr St George. But they didn’t get far.
Ms Raw said she stood in front of Bardak, who looked straight through her with “black eyes”, tracking Ms Buci’s escape.
“I remember saying to him ‘stop, don’t go near her’,” Ms Raw said. “He started running after her up the ramp.”
It was halfway up the ramp to level four that Bardak again caught Ms Buci, this time in a chokehold from behind, prompting the group of good Samaritans to again try to wrestle her free.
It was then, in another stroke of auspicious timing, that former jiu jitsu instructor David Varga arrived. Mr Varga, then a manager in WorkCover’s mathematics department, was in the office with colleagues including Guy Belcher when they heard a noise.
“Our floor overlooks Adelaide St, and there’s often been car accidents or incidents on the street and we all ran to the window to have a look and everyone downstairs was looking back up at us,” he said.
“Then I heard more noises and a scream and realised it was in the building, so then I just went straight down the fire stairs to the level five carpark.
“Initially I sort of baulked because it was all a bit weird, but then I realised Matt (Bannan) was involved, so I ran up and I can’t remember exactly but he said ‘Dave, come get involved, he’s hit her with an axe or he’s trying to kill her’ or something.”
Mr Varga’s jiu jitsu background proved crucial in freeing Ms Buci, grabbing Bardak from behind and twisting his head to the side in a “crossface” move that forced him to loosen his grip.
It was then that Ms Raw seized the chance Mr Varga had created, and grabbed Ms Buci. She told her to kick her shoes off and together they ran to the elevator. As they ran, Ms Raw told her not to look back, and when the doors of the elevator finally closed on the ordeal, she comforted her, telling her: “You’re safe now.”
Inside the carpark, however, the trouble was not over.
Suniljeet Singh had just finished work at nearby 300 Adelaide St and walked to Hutton Lane to meet his wife when he heard the commotion and followed it into the nearby carpark.
There he came across WorkCcover executive Barbara Martin in a grey SUV, beeping the horn, holding it down for seconds at a time, desperate to alert people to the man wielding an axe inside.
“The lady behind the wheel was very distressed, shouting and telling me ‘Call triple-0, he’s got an axe, do not go up there’,” Mr Singh said.
“While speaking to that lady I heard further screams and I realised she was not the victim, it was someone else, so I ran up more ramps.”
Mr Singh said that when he arrived at the scene, Ms Buci was gone but he saw Bardak being held down, and he dived into the fray to help restrain him as he struggled.
“When I looked around I saw a pair of black heels and a clump of hair I assumed was the victim’s,” he said.
It took all five men to hold Bardak down as they waited for police to arrive.
Mr Vargas’s colleague Mr Belcher had come to investigate, when he heard people yelling from the street that police had arrived but couldn’t gain access to the building.
He let them in before going looking for the victim, Ms Buci, whom he found on the bus stop bench outside with Ms Martin, the driver of the grey SUV who had warned Mr Singh of the danger on his way up.
Mr Sturgess, Mr Kouzi, Mr Bannan, Ms Raw, Mr St George, Mr Varga, Mr Singh, Mr Belcher and Ms Martin were nine ordinary people finishing work on a Wednesday afternoon when they ran into harm’s way to save a woman’s life. This week they again came together to protect her, their evidence helping convict 32-year-old Cameron Bardak of her attempted murder.
On Friday, Justice Glenn Martin sentenced Bardak to 14 years in prison for attempted murder, and three years behind bars for wounding. They will be served concurrently.
A serious violent offence order was also made, meaning Bardak must serve 80 per cent, equating to more than 11 years, before he is eligible for parole.
However, he has served almost three years in pre-sentence custody, which will be counted as time served.
Outside court this week, Ms Buci thanked her rescuers, saying: “They are the reason I am alive today.”
Mr Kouzi said he would not hesitate to do it all again if he heard someone in distress.
“Man or woman, I think if you’re a good human you’d run to anyone’s rescue,” he said. “In the moment I didn’t think about it but when everything had settled and by the time the police came I was like ‘oh my god what just happened’ – to have blood on you and to think about tackling a guy that big, I was definitely shaken up.”
Mr Kouzi said he looked forward to the ordeal being over for all involved.
“It’s been hanging over my head for three years, so just imagine what it’s been like for (Ms Buci) and him (Bardak),” he said. “I’ll be glad to see it put to bed and everyone can hopefully move on with their lives.”
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