By Nigel Gladstone, Adam Pengilly, Clare Sibthorpe and Angus Dalton
A man has gone on a stabbing rampage in southern Sydney after a car crash, allegedly slashing his partner in his car with a box cutter and attacking others who came to her aid, including a policeman.
Police Tasered the 58-year-old suspect who allegedly ran from the scene of the crash at the intersection of Princes Highway and Old Bush Road about 9am on Sunday.
Six people were treated by paramedics following the incident, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called shocking and distressing.
Police believe the man stabbed a woman in her 40s, whom he was in a relationship with, before the crash. Both were in a serious but stable condition on Sunday evening.
CCTV shows the man allegedly driving on the wrong side of Old Bush Road before he drove through an intersection and hit a blue sedan on the highway. The man allegedly continued his attack on the woman from within the crash wreckage.
Video captured by families in cars nearby the crash obtained by Nine News showed a number of bystanders, a man holding a short pole and a woman with a towel confronting the alleged attacker as he circled the car with the injured passenger still inside.
Several bystanders stepped in to help subdue the alleged attacker and help the injured woman in the car.Credit: Nine News
Wearing a white shirt covered in blood and cradling an injured arm, the suspect was filmed ranting and swearing at the bystanders before sprinting up the footpath pursued by a police officer.
The officer Tasered the suspect but had his wrist slashed during the arrest, which a witness said looked “badly cut”.
Sutherland police area command Superintendent Donald Faulds said a number of bystanders, unaware of the situation, stopped to help.
Among them was Cronulla Sharks chairman Steve Mace, who recounted the terrifying moment he attempted to help the victim from her alleged attacker.
Mace was driving his son to junior football when the accident unfolded in front of him and when he got out to assist, he found himself caught in the attack.
The crashed cars at Engadine.Credit: Edwina Pickles
“There was an accident in front of us,” Mace said. “I said to [his son] Cooper, ‘it looks like the airbags have gone off. I’ll quickly jump out to make sure they’re OK’.
Cronulla Sharks chairman Steve Mace intervened to help the victims.
“I could hear him [the attacker] screaming, but I could hear her screaming more. I ran around to the other side and he was just ruthlessly stabbing her. She was in the car with the seatbelt on. I’m trying to drag her out between him trying to stab me.”
Mace said he tried to reason with the attacker.
“I said, ‘stop, stop. Leave her’.“He said, ‘no, f--- her. She changed my radio station’. Another bloke came to try to grab her out by the legs, but then the bloke slit him right down his chest.”
The Sharks official said helpers managed to get the woman out of the car and onto the ground. But the man then started to go towards his son.
“He went to go for Cooper and then I had to bolt around. Thankfully, he kept raging and came back towards my side. He was speaking about it being a big conspiracy and we’d all be dead.
“He said, ‘we’re dying together, we’re dying together’. We finally got to the point where he said he wanted her to live. Eventually, the cops were able to shoot him with the Taser. He ripped it out and ran up the road [towards Engadine].
The alleged offender fled before a police officer caught and Tasered the man. The officer suffered a cut to the wrist during the incident.Credit: Nine News
“I only got a cut to my hand, but the other bloke copped a decent cut to his chest,” Mace told the Herald.
Police believe the suspect used the box cutter on himself, but it was not clear at what stage.
“We think [his injuries] were intentional on his behalf,” Faulds told journalists on Sunday afternoon.
“The allegation is that he is covered in blood as he exits the vehicle – whether or not that’s his blood [is not known], but he’s definitely seen to injure himself after exiting the vehicle”.
A police officer and other people suffered “multiple stab wounds” and lacerations after the collision.Credit: Nine news
Faulds said a total of six people were treated by paramedics; two were injured in the crash and four were stabbed, including bystanders and the police officer.
The suspect was taken to Liverpool Hospital in a critical condition but is now stable and under police guard. His passenger was taken to St George Hospital in a critical condition but was also stable by Sunday evening.
The man is known to police for multiple offences but Faulds could not confirm if they were domestic violence related, except to say there was no known domestic violence history between the suspect and the victim.
The police officer was “doing quite well” as his condition was not serious, Faulds said, before praising his work along with the “amazing” bystanders.
“They’ve just turned up thinking it was a motor vehicle accident, so they’re obviously going to render assistance to both people, and then they’re faced with a box cutter,” he said.
“It’s quite frightening, but very, very brave as well”.
Premier Chris Minns said he was briefed on the alleged stabbing on Sunday afternoon and Albanese called the incident “shocking and distressing” in a post on X. Both sent well-wishes to the injured and thanked the first responders and members of the public who intervened.
The Princes Highway was closed in both directions for at least five hours but reopened to traffic about 4.30pm Sunday.
A police officer was injured in the incident.Credit: Nine News
Eyewitness Wayne told 2GB radio he saw a man and a woman in a white sedan go through the intersection and hit a blue Mitsubishi Lancer.
The man got out of the white car and said, “I’m going to kill you to the woman,” Wayne said, adding the man was armed with a Stanley knife and started to “rant and rave”.
Police urged anyone with information about the incident to contact Crime Stoppers.
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