Samurai sword attack real estate agent arrested over love triangle fight

A Sydney real estate agent currently on a good behaviour bond for an infamous drug-induced samurai sword rampage has been arrested over a late-night altercation which left a man and a woman with head and facial injuries and sparked a siege.

A Sydney real estate agent currently on a good behaviour bond for an infamous drug-induced samurai sword rampage has been arrested over a late-night altercation which left a man and a woman with head and facial injuries and sparked a siege.

Karl Adon Howard, 48, remains under police guard in a Sydney hospital after the terrifying scenes, which were allegedly sparked by a love triangle, played out in a Rozelle unit complex on Sunday night.

The former Ray White Balmain principal is serving a 27-month intensive correction order and is banned from drugs and alcohol following the 2021 assault of two women inside his Annandale home. The order expires in February next year.

Police said they were called to Burt Street in Rozelle just before 11pm on Sunday after reports of an assault and multiple people screaming.

Paramedics treated a woman, aged in her 30s, for facial injuries, and a 40-year-old man for minor head wounds, before transporting the pair to St Vincent’s Hospital.

After a brief stand-off with police, Howard was arrested and taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital under police guard, where he remained on Monday night.

Real estate agent Karl Howard is under police guard following the altercation. Picture: Supplied

“A 48-year-old man was arrested after police negotiated his exit from the unit,” NSW Police said in a statement.

Howard has not yet been charged over the incident, but he has been issued with two provisional apprehended violence orders to protect of the two people who were injured during the altercation.

It is understood a love triangle is at the centre of the dispute, with the woman returning to her former partner, which upset Howard.

Residents at the unit complex told The Daily Telegraph they heard screaming and “smashing noises”.

“It was hard to tell what it was...next thing the street fills up with cops and ambos, so something was going on in there,” one neighbour said.

The front gate to the unit was wide open, showing a courtyard with multiple smashed garden pots. The sliding glass door had been dusted in by crime scene officers.

A NSW Police spokesman said Howard would be interviewed when his condition allowed and was expected to be charged over the alleged assault.

In November 2023, NSW District Court Judge Antony Townsden sentenced Howard to an intensive correction order and ordered him to perform 250 hours of community service after he pleaded guilty to assaulting two women in 2021. He was also banned from drugs and alcohol and must complete a domestic violence course.

The unit in Burt Street, Rozelle, where the alleged incident took place. Picture: Rohan Kelly

The court heard Howard was on a cocktail of drugs including cocaine and Viagra, and hadn’t slept for seven days when the two women, aged 27 and 29, went to his house in February 2021.

While the trio were drinking and watching the television, Howard forcibly tried to kiss and choke one of the women before punching her in the head multiple times.

When her friend tried to intervene, Howard slashed her with a samurai sword.

Howard admitted to assaulting one woman and causing her actual bodily harm, and recklessly causing grievous bodily harm to the second woman.

Judge Townsden told Howard he would be taken into custody immediately if he breached his conditions.

“I am satisfied the offender’s risk of reoffending is low and his rehabilitation is best served by the conditions imposed by an intensive corrections order,” Judge Townsden said.