Mia Ayliffe-Chung stabbing: Home Hill comes to grips with tragedy in their midst
ALL was quiet in Home Hill when Mia Ayliffe-Chung’s terrified screams shattered the darkness on Tuesday. “It was bloodcurdling”.
PEOPLE tend to rise early in Home Hill.
The relentless daytime heat does not waver from season to season in the north Queensland cane growing town, so the earlier farm workers make it into the fields, the earlier they make it out again.
Like most weeknights, Home Hill was quiet and still late on Tuesday, when Mia Ayliffe-Chung’s terrified screams ripped through the darkness.
“It was bloodcurdling, it gave me chills,” one town resident said.
“The screams I heard were awful.”
The young British backpacker had not long arrived at Shelley’s Backpackers when the unthinkable happened about 11.15pm Tuesday night.
As more than 30 fellow backpackers slept at the hostel, a 29-year-old Frenchman who police will allege had become infatuated with the beautiful young waitress and model allegedly roused her from her bed.
For reasons police are still yet to determine, he allegedly plunged a kitchen knife into her body multiple times, inflicting unsurvivable injuries.
Police will claim he also injured two men who came to her aid, one critically.
The 21-year-old, who her family said had been living her dream on the Gold Coast prior to leaving for Home Hill, died amid a river of blood on the hostel floor, paramedics powerless to save her.
By the following day, the spotlight of the Australian, British and French media was shining brightly upon the small rural community, when it emerged Ms Ayliffe-Chung’s accused murderer had yelled “Allahu Akbar” — Arabic for “God is the greatest” — before stabbing her.
Police have since all but ruled out an extremist motive for the alleged crime, but for the 3000 residents of Home Hill, life may never be the same.
The sugar cane town that sits on the banks of the Burdekin River about an hour’s drive south of Townsville prides itself on its residents being as sweet as their main agricultural export.
That such a violent death occurred in their midst is something they are still coming to terms with.
“This is not something you expect to hear in Home Hill, maybe in Brisbane or Sydney,” one business owner told local media.
Like in many country towns, however, shocked residents quickly banded together.
Despite many struggling to come to grips with the possibility that terror may have come to their quiet pocket of the world, they rallied to support the 30 traumatised backpackers who witnessed the aftermath of the alleged stabbing frenzy.
Donations of food and clothing quickly came flooding in and counselling services were quickly organised through the Red Cross.
Burdekin Shire Deputy Mayor and lifelong Home Hill resident John Wood was among those offering assistance and said it was heartwarming to see so many people rushing to offer assistance.
“It shows the community cares, and I would expect nothing less from this community,” he told the Burdekin Advocate.
“They’re a caring community and they’ve suffered a tragedy.”
The owner of the sugar cane farm that employed both Ms Ayliffe-Chung and her alleged killer, Smail Ayad, 29, said many of the backpackers in the hostel that night had been rocked by the violent crime.
The hostel remains a crime scene as forensic investigations continue and Lorraine Gorizia told the Townsville Bulletin they could not get back in to gather their possessions.
Most wanted to flee the town, she said.
“They’re frightened. There’s blood everywhere and they have to relive what they saw every time they go back there,” Ms Gorizia said.
“They can’t get to their rooms, their clothes. It is shocking. It’s not good for the poor kids. I feel so sorry for them.”
The police officer leading the investigation, Superintendent Ray Rohweder, told reporters on Thursday the CCTV footage of the scene was “absolutely horrific”.
“I’ve viewed the CCTV of what actually occurred. There’s no one that can view that CCTV that doesn’t come away feeling sick to the stomach,” he said.
There remains little clue as to why Ayad, 29, a trained kickboxer, allegedly snapped so violently on Tuesday night.
After rousing Ms Ayliffe-Chung from her sleep, police claim he dragged her onto a balcony, where he repeatedly stabbed her.
A fellow Brit, Tom Jackson, 30, sought to shield her in a bathroom, but Ayad allegedly turned on him too, stabbing him more than 20 times, including in the eye, head and torso. He is still fighting for life in hospital.
Hostel caretaker Grant Schultz, 46, suffered a stab wound to the leg while attempting to go to Ms Ayliffe-Chung’s aid, and horrified backpackers, 30 of whom were witnesses to some part of the attack, watched as the Frenchman allegedly chased and then slaughtered a pet German Shepherd that belonged to the hotel owners.
Police said it appeared he had developed a romantic infatuation for Ms Ayliffe-Chung in the short time he had known her but the feelings were not reciprocated.
Witnesses reported he had smoked cannabis on the night of the alleged stabbing frenzy, Supt Rohweder said, though drug testing to determine if he had consumed any other illicit drugs was still yet to be concluded.
Despite the repeated cries of the phrase “Allahu Akbar”, Supt Rohweder said there was no evidence to point to the young French Muslim having been radicalised.
Though Ms Gorizia told the Townsville Bulletin Ayad had been quiet and polite in the time he had worked for her, he has, according to police, been anything but while in custody.
Police prevented him from appearing in court in Townsville on Friday to face a raft of charges, including Ms Ayliffe-Chung’s murder, due to concerns for public safety.
They claim he has been continually aggressive in the three days he has been in custody, assaulting 12 police officers, and even allegedly biting one of them.
Police have been reportedly forced to use capsicum spray and a taser in an unsuccessful attempt to restrain him.
Ayad has been charged with the murder of Ms Ayliffe-Chung, the attempted murders of Mr Jackson and Mr Scultz and 12 counts of assault, stemming from attacks on police officers.
He has also been charged with animal cruelty over the fatal attack on the dog, which many backpackers reportedly caught on video.
He is due to return to court in October.
In the meantime, Mr Jackson’s UK-based father has flown to Townsville to hold vigil at his son’s bedside, while another family on the other side of the world mourns the “Sassy, clever and kind” daughter who will never return from her overseas holiday.
In a haunting comment on her beloved daughter’s Facebook site just days before she died, Ms Ayliffe-Chung’s mother Rosie joked, “Love you all around the world and back again … (Wish I’d never said that when you were little, look what happened!)”
As she came to grips with her daughter’s death, Ms Ayliffe selflessly appealed to quell any anti-Muslim sentiment her daughter’s death, with its initial suspected terrorism link, might bring.
“As a peaceful person Mia had huge respect for everybody,” she said.
“She would not want to be the reason for any hostilities caused by any misrepresentations of events.”
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