A FRENCHMAN accused of murdering a British backpacker in Australia declared on Facebook “I’m going to die” moments before his frenzied attack, it is claimed.
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Today, Queensland Police charged 29-year-old Smail Ayad, from France, with one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of serious animal cruelty.
The 12 serious assaults he has been charged with are in relation to 12 separate police officers, he said.
He is due to appear at Townsville Magistrates’ Court via videolink on Friday. He continues to refuse to speak with investigators.
In 2015, a 15-year-old boy fired on an accountant at a police headquarters in a Sydney suburb and was killed in a gunfight with police.
Rohweder said: “When we transported the suspect from the Townsville hospital to the Townsville police station, the suspect behaved in an extremely violent manner which necessitated police stopping the motor vehicle and attempting to restrain him”. He is alleged to have turned on the two detectives, biting one, and causing minor injuries to both. The officers used pepper spray and an electric stun gun to restrain him.
Rohweder said Ayad’s behaviour continued to be erratic and he had declined to be interviewed by police.
Ayad has also been charged with the attempted murders of another British backpacker, Tom Jackson, and the hostel caretaker, Grant Schulz, 46.
Mia Ayliffe-Chung, the victim in a brutal killing.
Speaking of Mr Jackson, Samantha Harrison wrote on Facebook: “Tom Jackson was a very close friend and one of the most unbelievable people I have ever met”.
It is understood another British backpacker and friend Thomas Jackson, 30, came to Ms Ayliffe-Chung’s aid and was stabbed multiple times in the face, chest and stomach, suffering horrific injuries.
Miss Ayliffe-Chung, from Wirksworth, Derbyshire, was only days into a three-month trip to the country.
Mr Jackson, from Congleton in Cheshire, was seriously injured as he tried to defend the young woman.
“It’s a tragedy. No words to describe what happened”, he said.
A dog – believed to live at the hostel – was also stabbed to death.
The man, a French national visiting Australia, shouted “Allahu akbar” – the Arabic phrase meaning “God is great” – both during the attack and while being arrested by police, Gollschewski said.
BBC shows some of Mia’s shared photos and said that she had just traveled to the Australian hostel in Home Hill to work on a farm in a rural area and extend her Australian visa.
Superintendent Ray Rohweder of Queensland Police had previously said the possibility that Ayad had an unrequited romantic interest or an “obsession” with Miss Ayliffe-Chung was a line of inquiry.
Police said he leapt off the hostel balcony and landed on his back after the alleged attack.
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“Any line of inquiry that takes us to worldwide law enforcement we will follow”, she said. However, there was definitely no romantic connection between the pair from her point of view.
