Lowe, the lawyer for the family of a man involved in a stabbing attack in Bondi Junction, revealed that the family’s last contact with their son was a text message his mother received in March 2024. He mentioned that the man had a liking for knives, although it was not explicitly stated whether he had a fascination with them. The man had been “street-checked” by Queensland Police on the Gold Coast in December 2023, where police conducted ‘knife-wanding’ checks. However, he was not arrested, and the process was described as “intelligence gathering.” Information from this encounter was shared with New South Wales Police who are leading the investigation into the stabbing incident.
New South Wales Police will travel to Queensland to speak with the man’s family. Under the new “Jack’s Law” knife-searching legislation, it is an offense to carry a knife in a nightclub-type environment, and the man was observed carrying a knife in such a situation but was not charged. The man was not considered a “fixated risk” by the police’s specialist Fixated Threat Assessment Centre. Lowe mentioned that the man had contact with police in the past four to five years and had suffered from mental health issues. The man had been constantly moving in recent years, residing in various locations in Queensland before moving to Sydney after the Gold Coast police search.
Three victims of the Bondi Junction stabbing attack were identified as Dawn Singleton, Jade Young, and Ashlee Good. The man’s family expressed their condolences to the victims and the police officer who fired the shots that killed their son. They issued a statement expressing their thoughts and condolences to the victims’ families and friends. They also showed support for the NSW police officer involved in the incident, expressing concerns for her welfare. The man had reportedly been itinerant in recent years, moving from Brisbane to Kangaroo Point, Carina, and returning to his family’s residence in Toowoomba in the southern police region of Queensland before relocating to Sydney.
Queensland Health confirmed that the man had been treated for mental health issues by them over a decade ago. However, his care was transferred to a private sector psychiatrist in 2012. While social media reports suggested that the man worked as a tutor at Harristown State High School, Education Queensland clarified that he had never been employed there. Queensland Police are preparing information for the State Coroner while NSW Police are leading the investigation into the stabbing incident at Bondi Junction. The man’s family indicated that he had been sleeping in a vehicle or at backpackers in New South Wales. The case remains under investigation as authorities work to uncover more information about the man’s background and the events leading up to the tragic incident.
