EXCLUSIVE
A former bikie accused of crashing his Jaguar and going on rampage with a box cutter has been charged over the alleged attempted murder of his girlfriend.
Antony Benson, 58, was travelling in a white 2013 Jaguar XF sedan with his partner, 48, when they T-boned a blue Mitsubishi Lancer on the Princes Highway in Engadine, Sydney’s south, just before 9am on Sunday.
Benson allegedly stabbed his partner – who Daily Mail has chosen not to identify – a number of times in the neck and breast, before started slashing at onlookers and Constable Campbell Fordyce.
He then turned the knife on himself and tried to flee the scene, but he was Tasered by police several hundred metres down the road and taken to hospital under police guard.
Benson was due to appear in Sutherland Local Court at 3pm on Monday, but his lawyer requested an adjournment because his client was unconscious at Liverpool Hospital.
According to court documents, seen by Daily Mail , Benson has been hit with eight charges – including one domestic violence offence for allegedly trying to kill his girlfriend.
He was also charged with wounding a person with intent to resist arrest, reckless wounding, affray, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.
Other charged include hinder or resist police officer in the execution of duty, and fail to stop and assist after vehicle impact causing grievous bodily harm.
Magistrate Philip Stewart suggested the matter be adjourned until Tuesday when Benson was awake, but the lawyer advised that was not possible because he would be in surgery.
The matter was relisted in Sutherland for Thursday, with a further mention in Sydney’s Downing Centre on October 22.
During the incident on Sunday, Constable Fordyce suffered a laceration to his wrist, the 20-year-old female Lancer driver had a broken wrist, and a 67-year-old man who tried to help her had serious stab wounds to the abdomen.
All five were treated at the scene before being taken to St George and Liverpool hospitals. The police officer and a man who was travelling in the Lancer have since been released.
The alleged attack played out in front of families as bystanders raced to help the injured.
According to the court documents, Benson has been charged with assaulting Cronulla Sharks chairman Steve Mace, who was among those who rushed to assist before emergency services arrived.
Mr Mace had been driving through Engadine to take his young son to a football final when he witnessed the crash.
Concerned about the occupants, he jumped out of his vehicle and rushed over to the alleged knifeman’s car to help.
‘I heard the guy screaming in the car and then I heard his partner screaming even louder. I tried to open the door and finally jammed it open,’ he told the Daily Telegraph.
Mr Mace said the alleged knifeman was ranting about his female passenger, saying ‘she changed the radio station on him’.
He later told Ten News the alleged knifeman had attempted to confront the passenger following the crash, but Mace and other witnesses blocked him from re-entering the car.
‘I was trying to drag her out of the car, another guy copped a gash poor fella,’ he said
The man then proceed to rant about how ‘we’re all dead anyway’, according to Mr Mace.
‘It’s a big conspiracy about the jab, we’re all getting followed and we’re all dead anyway, So, you know, she shouldn’t have changed the radio station,’ he recalled.
Mr Mace also recalled the moment alleged attacker moved towards his young son.
‘Police got there… he then tried to turn around and get my fella,’ he said.
‘The police tasered him. Somehow he raced up the hill…that’s when I found out a police officer was stabbed…there was a lot of blood everywhere.’
Witnesses recalled seeing the white Jaguar swerving in and out of traffic before T-boning the unsuspecting vehicle.
The terrifying incident unfolded in front of children.
Benson is a former bikie who was part of a group called Bikers Against Child Abuse.
He grew up in Janali in the Sutherland Shire before moving to Toronto on the Central Coast.
Superintendent Donald Faulds said the 58-year-old man was known to police for various previous offences and he was in a domestic relationship with the 48-year-old woman.
He said there was no history of domestic violence between the pair that police were aware of at this stage.
‘We believe the female was [allegedly] being assaulted in the car while the male was driving,’ he told reporters on Sunday.
‘A number of witnesses mentioned the car was driving quite erratically at the time.’
‘The self-harm.. we believe that may have occurred in the car at the same time or immediately after the collision.’