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A Queensland man has described the harrowing ordeal of surviving an alleged strangling attempt with a garden hose during a violent, hour-long rampage that police say left an elderly dog walker dead.
Andrew Kearney had been rolling up an empty hose in the small town of Childers when he said a man approached him to ask for a drink of water. When Mr Kearney explained he had no water, he turned away to walk inside.
“Soon as I turned away to walk away, leaving him with my hose, that’s when he made a loop in it and put it around my neck,” Mr Kearney told 7News.
Police allege the man was 36-year old Richard Zoltan Babos.
Mr Kearney fought desperately for several minutes until a group of rough sleepers and his friends noticed the commotion and risked their own safety to pull the attacker off him.
“I got three good ones in. He had blood all over him, strength of 10 men,” one good Samaritan who intervened told 7News.
The bystanders pinned the man to the ground until an off-duty police officer rushed in to make the arrest.
When police took Mr Babos into custody beside the silver Subaru Liberty he was driving, witnesses claim the Bundaberg West man sat restrained and appeared to be smiling.
The blood covering him allegedly belonged to Laurie Elliott, 78, a beloved local resident who had been beaten to death just minutes earlier.
Mr Elliott had been out for his routine daily walk with his cattle dog, Bluey, only metres from the home he shared with Heidi, his wife of 61 years.
Police allege Mr Babos stole a metal pole from a nearby shed, accused the pensioner of taking his pet, and brutally bashed him to death on Whitebridge Rd in North Isis.
Denise Kretschmann, a friend of the victim, told 9News the community was absolutely devastated by the loss of a “dearly loved and appreciated and genuine man” who would be sadly missed by all.
The alleged fatal attack and the attempted strangling of Mr Kearney capped off a terrifying series of unprovoked assaults across the region that afternoon.
The violence began on the Bruce Highway at Glenorchy when Mr Babos allegedly intentionally backed his Subaru into a Tesla, launched a verbal tirade at the driver, and sped away.
Less than an hour later, the vehicle allegedly rammed a Mitsubishi Pajero on North St in Childers.
When the Pajero’s 65-year-old driver stepped out to assess the damage, Mr Babos allegedly reversed into him, got out of his car, and repeatedly punched the older man in the head before fleeing toward North Isis.
The two surviving victims were taken to Bundaberg Hospital, with the 65-year-old motorist sustaining severe head and neck trauma, and Mr Kearney suffering facial and neck injuries.
Detectives confirmed that none of the victims were known to their attacker.
Mr Babos has been charged with one count each of murder, attempt to murder, acts intended to maim, disfigure or disable, dangerous operation of a vehicle, and evasion.
He has been remanded in custody and has not yet entered a plea.
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