Backpacker tells of lucky escape from armed assailant via window

A YOUNG Gold Coast hospitality worker made a frantic leap for his life out a second-storey window during a frenzied fatal stabbing at a north Queensland backpackers on Tuesday night.

A YOUNG Gold Coast hospitality worker made a frantic leap for his life out a second-storey window during a frenzied fatal stabbing at a north Queensland backpackers on Tuesday night.

Chris Porter, a Surfers Paradise chef at Ultra Lounge, awoke on the top bunk above the bed of friend Mia Ayliffe-Chung who was being stabbed repeatedly.

Police will allege the attack was carried out by a fellow room mate.

Mr Porter, lucky to escape with two fractured ankles, was too distraught to speak about the incident last night, but his older brother Aaron revealed chilling details of what allegedly happened in the hostel dorm room.

Shocked backpackers gather to try and fathom what happened. Picture: Wesley Monts

After the fatal attack on Miss Ayliffe-Chung, the man with the knife allegedly started stabbing a fourth room-mate in the face and torso – he was critically injured in hospital last night.

The knifeman then turned his attention on 21-year-old Chris Porter who is believed to have fractured both heels as he leapt from the second floor of the Shelley’s Backpacker’s in Home Hill south of Townsville.

Aaron, who was with his sibling at Ayr Hospital last night, said the alleged knifeman continued to pursue his younger brother, chasing him down the road with the knife.

“I think he has fractured both his heels – he was on the second storey and had to jump out the window. The guy has chased him down the road with the knife,” Aaron said. “He’s had to wave down a car and this guy was trying to smash the car window.”

One backpacker is believed to have fractured both heels as he leapt from the second floor of the Shelley’s Backpacker’s in Home Hill south of Townsville. Picture: Scott Radford-Chisholm

Aaron said his brother told him a Frenchman arrested in relation to the attack had been at the backpackers for several days and was rooming with those who were attacked.

“(Chris) said he had been there for a few days and seemed an absolutely normal guy. He spoke to the guy before he went to bed – and he seemed fine. He has woken up to him dragging Mia out of bed. The guy was a nutter.”

Originally published as Backpacker tells of lucky escape from armed assailant via window