Police investigate northside death
A trail of blood down a quiet residential street appears to show a man’s final movements as he searched for help after being stabbed in Brisbane’s north overnight. Neighbours reported hearing cries for help. A woman has been charged with murder.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A 20m trail of dried blood down a quiet residential street is being scoured by police investigators after a fatal stabbing in Bray Park, north of Brisbane, overnight.
Police were called to Gloucester Crescent, Bray Park, about 11.35pm Saturday after reports of a “disturbance” on Gloucester Crescent.
“Upon arrival police located a 50-year-old man in a neighbouring street who had sustained a stab wound,” police said in a statement.
The man died at the scene.
The blood stains, still visible this morning, indicate the injured man had made his way to a nearby 7/11, however it’s understood the service station was closed at the time.
Remnants of a second blood trail suggest the man then stumbled from the closed store back across the main road to seek help.
A significant amount of blood remained on the post of a nearby pedestrian crossing button this morning.
The Courier-Mail understands the man was leaning against the pole before he collapsed and was eventually found dead at the scene, within a few metres of the busy main road.
A cleaner in PPE was this morning removing traces of blood from the nearby 7-11.
A 41-year-old woman, Rachel Smithers, has been charged over the death. The Courier-Mail understands the pair have at least two children together.
Smithers, whose Facebook states is a mother to three daughters, changed her Facebook profile picture just 20 minutes before police allege she stabbed the father of her children to death.
Two days ago Smithers uploaded a Facebook post which read: “you owe yourself the love that you so freely give to other people.”
“Help me, help me, help me,” were the words that prompted one woman to walk outside her Bray Park home last night.
Kerrie, who did not provide her surname, heard cries for help while asleep in bed.
“I heard him yelling out ‘help me, help me, help me,’ a few times over and over,” Kerrie said.
“I got out of bed and came out because I was concerned something had happened, but I couldn’t see anything so went back inside.”
Kerrie said after returning to bed, she again heard the same calls for help.
“I came out a second time because I could still hear it,” she said.
“He wasn’t as loud that time but I could still hear very faintly, ‘help me, help me.”
After multiple attempts to locate who was making the desperate calls for help, Kerrie said she’d thought the noise was coming from young people in the street.
“It wasn’t until I came out again that I saw police lined along the street,” she said.
“After I’d come out twice and didn’t see anyone, I thought it was just kids mucking around near the service station. I didn’t look much after that because it’s a bit frightening.”
According to Kerrie and her partner, a crew from the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services were earlier this morning called to 7/11 to clean glass windows and doors, which they said had been smeared with blood as Mr Crumblin tried desperately to seek help.
After a restless night, Kerrie and her partner had this morning gone out for a Father’s Day breakfast.
She said the events of what happened were even more tragic given they occurred on what should’ve been a happy day for Mr Crumblin.
“It’s awful for those two little girls,” said Kerrie.
“He was always outside playing with them. What a horrible thing to have happen on Father’s Day. I’m glad to know they are okay though.”
Gwen Beale, a neighbour of the home and resident of the street for 40 years, said she heard voices about 1am but didn’t realise something had happened until more police arrived at sunrise.
“Then I saw all this blood up the footpath,” Ms Beale said.
“Just horrible.
“It leaves you a little shaky.”
She described the man’s “normal” family included two little girls aged between 8 and 12 years old.
“They were always out playing,” she said, adding she didn’t know them well.
“It makes you feel for the little girls.”
The man’s family had been living in the rental property for a least a year, Ms Beale said.
Other neighbours said the man would wave at them whenever they’d see each other.
A golden retriever reportedly belonging to the family was this morning taken out of the home by police officers.
The woman charged with murder will appear before the Pine Rivers Magistrates Court on Monday.
