'I want a lawyer': Bus attack suspect watched calmly as victim burned
A Queensland bus driver on his morning route has been burned to death at the wheel, after he was drench in a flammable liquid and then set alight.
There was no warning before the attack in Brisbane, and terrified passengers can thank a hero taxi driver for their rescue after the bus erupted in flames.
The cruelty was on a scale few could comprehend – it was quick and vicious, and the man accused of doing it just stood back and admired.
Security vision shows the moment the bus cabin ignited as 29-year-old driver Manmeet Sharma was drenched in petrol and set alight.
“The fire was substantial – he would have stood little chance,” NSW Police Superintendent Jim Keogh said.
The government bus pulled into a stop on Beaudesert Road at Moorooka in Brisbane’s south at 9.05am.
RELATED:
Anthony O’Donohue, 48, was among several people waiting.
“It was at that time one of the passengers entered onto the bus, poured a flammable liquid onto the driver…” Supt Keogh said.
Passengers on the bus became hysterical. There were six of them, including toddlers.
Witness Clair Savage said she could hear their screams from outside the bus.
“I heard people screaming and banging,” she said.
“They were trapped in the bus and the front cabin was just giant flames.”
Fearing an explosion, some ran from the bus but one taxi driver ran towards it.
Aguek Nyok said the smoke was so thick he could not see anyone, but he heard them.
“Yeah, I broke the back door down,” he said.
"When I looked at the back door, people were lining up trying to get out, but they can’t.
“They were just crying and screaming, “Open the door, open the door. Let us out”.
It took three kicks but Mr Nyok got them out.
Witnesses and police hailed Mr Nyok as a hero for his actions.
“Heroic, to say the least, and certainly jeopardized his own life” Supt Keogh said.
The passengers were all treated for minor injuries and smoke inhalation at hospital.
Nobody, though, could save Mr Sharma.
What happened in Moorooka has sickened police but what truly astonishes them is the reaction of the man accused of doing this.
Senior sources have told 7 News that when detectives arrives Anthony O’Donohue was just sitting at the scene, casually saying absolutely nothing other than “I want a lawyer”.
Police delayed entering O’Donohoe’s nearby apartment for fear it may be booby-trapped.
The suspect has a history of mental illness, police say, never though as violent as what he is alleged to have done on Friday.
The victim, Manmeet Sharma’s, parents in India were told the horrific news on Friday afternoon Australian time.
He was a popular singer in Brisbane’s Indian community and was engage to be married next year.
He should not even have been working that route on Friday. He was doing a fill-in shift.
