Maddison Hickson survived public place shooting at Tenambit before Michael Carroll murder trial
Maddison Hickson was left cowering in her boyfriend’s home as it was being peppered by gunmen just hours before she was set to go on trial for her father’s murder.
Newcastle
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Self-confessed killer Maddison Hickson survived a targeted drive-by shooting of her boyfriend’s home the day before her murder trial was set to commence.
It can be revealed that Ms Hickson, who was acquitted on Wednesday of murdering her father Michael Carroll after admitting to stabbing him twice in the heart in self-defence, was inside a Tenambit home when a group of gunmen fired sawn-off firearms into the property.
Closed circuit television footage shows the masked men walking down a pathway between homes on Goldingham St before stopping and firing into the front yard of the home about 6.45am on October 16.
Ms Hickson, her boyfriend and another man were inside at the time of the Sunday morning shooting.
No one was injured.
The gunmen appear to have targeted a hire car parked in the driveway of the home, with a number of shots crashing through windows and into the MG station wagon.
Although no one was in the station wagon at the time of the shooting, police said it was “driven away by unknown persons” before it was located several kilometres away in Morpeth later that day.
The car was seized for further forensic testing.
Two crime scenes were established – at the house and where the car was located – and evidence taken away for analysis.
Although a motive remains unclear, detectives are certain the shooting was targeted and not random.
It is also not believed to be directly linked to Ms Hickson’s trial, which began the following day in the NSW Supreme Court in Newcastle.
Ms Hickson had pleaded not guilty to murdering her father, a violent and feared standover man with a long list of horrific crimes.
She would tell the jury that she feared for her life after 51-year-old Carroll, who was high on ice and paranoid, had attacked her with a knife inside a friend’s home in January last year.
She said she was able to wrestle the knife from her father before stabbing him twice in the chest, the blade piercing his heart twice.
Carroll would stumble outside, collapse on the front lawn and die.
After deliberating for more than a day, the jury returned on Wednesday afternoon with the not guilty verdict, believing Ms Hickson was acting in self defence.
Investigations into the shooting continue and information should be forwarded to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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