Uber driver recalls scary run-in with alleged Sydney stabber
The driver whose car the alleged Sydney stabber jumped on during a dramatic rampage said for a moment, he thought the man was wearing a “vest of some sort”.
Speaking on The Project, Leon Baghlani recalled the moment the alleged stabber jumped onto his car and explained why he took off.
The Uber driver said at the time of the incident, he had two passengers in the car. After seeing a fire truck and people yelling on the street, Mr Baghlani thought there was some sort of terror scenario in Sydney’s CBD.
Mr Baghlani said he “panicked”, and then he saw the man holding a knife.
“Next thing, this man sort of appears out of nowhere with a knife in his hand and some blood on his shirt,” Mr Baghlani said on The Project.
“He looks to the car, he comes over, he jumps on the bonnet and from the bonnet he jumps onto the roof of the car.
“For a second I thought, maybe he’s wearing a vest of some sort and he’s going to detonate himself.”
Mr Beghlani “quickly accelerated” and made sure the man came off the roof of the car.
After the ordeal, Mr Baghlani said he got emotional when he arrived at his kids’ school.
He said he told his children what had happened at work that day. But he was apprehensive about telling his kids, not wanting to expose them to something like this.
Ultimately Mr Baghlani decided he wanted his kids to hear it from him, not their friends at school the following day.
One of his children got teary after telling them what had happened. “My middle boy,” he said. “He got a bit teary and it got me a bit teary.”
Police received calls about a man armed with a knife and wearing a balaclava wandering around Sydney’s York Street at around 2pm. Officers then found a 41-year-old woman suffering a stab wound at the Hotel CBD.
Following the incident involving Mr Baghlani, three members of the public apprehended the 21-year-old attacker, before he was arrested by police.
About an hour after the arrest, the body of a 21-year-old woman was found in a Clarence Street unit.
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller confirmed the two crimes are linked, identifying the attacker as 21-year-old Mert Ney, who has a history of mental health issues.
Mr Fuller says Tuesday's rampage was "not currently classed as a terrorist incident" by authorities and the "lone actor" had no links to terrorist organisations.
-With AAP
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