Housemate on trial for attempted murder of British backpacker

DETAILS of the terrifying time endured by a British woman visiting Australia have been heard in court. WARNING: Graphic

Smears of blood on the share house door. Picture. ABC

A MEXICAN tourist stabbed his housemate with a chef’s knife and said, “I have to sex with her or I have to kill her” during an attack in their Sydney home, a court has heard.

Francisco Quibrera Villaescusa was living in the Chippendale share house with a British woman, who cannot be named, and a French man when the incident occurred on March 8 last year.

Villaescusa walked into the British woman’s room about 3pm and told her: “I have to have sex with you, you must have sex with me” before allegedly sexually assaulting her, prosecutor Katharine Jeffreys told the Downing Centre District Court on Monday.

Villaescusa has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault, reckless wounding, indecent assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and attempted murder and is facing a judge alone trial.

Ms Jeffreys said after Villaescusa sexually assaulted the woman he took a chef’s knife from the kitchen and sliced the webbing between her first finger and thumb so deep it exposed the muscle. He then forced her into his bedroom and held her down with one hand while he masturbated with his other hand.

The court heard the woman then went into the kitchen to get ice for her injured hand and went into the bedroom of their other housemate, Leon Bajard, from France.

The backpacker who was attacked at the Redfern share house.

“The accused, armed with kitchen knife, forced his way into the bedroom of Mr Bajard,” Ms Jeffreys said.

The two men wrestled and Mr Bajard received cuts to his hand and fingers from the knife.

At that point, the British woman tried to escape. “[She] tried to leave the bedroom but was put on the floor and stabbed three times with the knife,” said Ms Jeffreys.

One wound hit a facial nerve and narrowly missed a major blood vessel and the other struck her in the armpit. The third wound was at the back of her neck.

This was when Ms Jeffreys told the court he said: “I have to have sex with her or I have to kill her.”

Blood on the blinds at the home. Picture: Channel 7

Police at the Cleveland Street share house. Picture: Bill Hearne

The British woman managed to grab the knife from him and ran towards the front door. When Villaescusa caught up with her she stabbed him in the chest “and made her escape”.

Villaescusa was then taken to St Vincents Hospital where he was treated for his injuries and was observed “displaying symptoms of psychosis”.

Ms Jeffrey said it was the first psychotic episode Villaescusa had experienced. “It had developed over a period of a few weeks and in the context of cannabis use.”

She told Acting Judge Gregory Hosking the facts of the case had been agreed and the only witnesses that would be called during the three-day trial would be psychiatrists who would give evidence on whether Villaescusa’s psychotic state “impacted on his actions and his reasoning”.

“The key issue in this case is that the medical evidence amounts to a defence of mental illness.”

A short video was played to the court that showed the inside of the Cleveland Street flat. A small amount of cannabis was found by detectives in Villaescusa and there were bloodstains on his mattress.

Blood could also be seen smeared on Mr Bajard’s bedroom door and the British woman’s mobile phone was found on the bedroom floor.

The trial continues.

[e-mail]