This is the sickening moment a knifeman who went on a stabbing rampage through Sydney casually took a selfie – moments after he had ‘slashed the throat’ of a sex worker.
Footage shows suspect Mert Ney in an alley just before 2pm yesterday appearing to hold a phone in front of his face.
After apparently taking a selfie, he then ran out onto the street before going on a knife rampage through the city, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and stabbing a 41-year-old woman in the back.
The 21-year-old was caught on camera moments after allegedly killing 24-year-old sex worker Michaela Dunn at a nearby apartment. The footage, obtained by Channel Seven, also shows Ney appearing to put a balaclava on as he ran out of the alleyway.
Meanwhile, Ms Dunn’s mother Joanne, has described her daughter as a ‘beautiful, loving woman’ who had studied marketing at the University of Notre Dame and had travelled widely.
Police believe Ms Dunn was a sex worker and Ney, a recent convert to Islam, had been her client earlier in the day, having made an appointment to see her at 1.30pm. The suspect, who has a history of mental illness, was seen on CCTV footage leaving the building at 1.50pm, and police say he killed her before fleeing the block in a blood-soaked jumper.
Three Britons, including a Muay Thai champion, helped tackle him to the ground in front of terrified crowds in Sydney’s business district.
He was later found to have a thumb drive containing details of mass-casualty white-supremacist attacks in the United States and New Zealand. Although the incident is not being treated as terror-related, the knifeman was described by police as a ‘lone actor’ who may have some terrorist ideologies.
It comes as one of Ney’s sister apologised to the Dunn family, saying: ‘Sorry a million times.. I’m just really sorry to the victim’.
Mert Ney was caught on camera moments after allegedly killing 24-year-old sex worker Michaela Dunn (pictured) at a nearby apartment
Sex worker Michaela Dunn (pictured) who allegedly had her throat cut by a knifeman moments before he went on a rampage through Sydney was training to be a midwife, her mother has revealed
Police believe Ms Dunn was a sex worker, and had arranged to see Ney as a client at 1.30pm on Tuesday. Her body was found about 3.15pm – little more than an hour after Ney allegedly stabbed a second woman in the back
Accused Sydney knifeman Mert Ney was filmed in the back of a police van after his arrest in Sydney on Tuesday afternoon
Ney, wearing a grey hoodie covered in blood wielding a large knife could be seen yelling in the street as hundreds of people fled for their lives
A sister (pictured) of Mert Ney, who is accused of killing a woman before stabbing another in Sydney, says she is heartbroken at the news
The sister, who declined to give her name, said Ney had a ‘steep descent into insanity’ and she wanted him to ‘suffer’ and be punished severely by the law for what he had allegedly done.
‘I want him to suffer. I want them to just put him in like the worst mental health institution where it’s like jail,’ she said.
The woman said she felt ‘shocked, angry, disgusted – I hate my last name’ in remarkably candid comments near the family home in western Sydney.
‘Mostly I just want to say sorry to (the victims),’ the tearful sister said. ‘She (the slain 24-year-old found dead in a unit) was like, younger than me.
‘She could’ve been like going out in a few hours to go shopping with her mum, eat dinner with her boyfriend, her girlfriends and s***. She can’t do that now, can she?’
‘All the words I could say isn’t ever going to bring her back … I’m really sorry, she was like, defenceless and everything.’
She said Ney needed to face the repercussions of his alleged actions. ‘I want him to suffer, I want them to put him in the worst (most severe) mental health institution.
‘But I know the law might be lenient or oh, he’s mentally ill, we’ll let him go. Then another woman’s going to die.’
She added: ‘I don’t want to go near him. If this happened to like family members you know, you wouldn’t want to go near them, would you?’
The sister praised the actions of the heroes who brought his alleged rampage to a swift end with milk crates and chairs as ‘commendable’.
Ms Ney told reporters on Wednesday she ‘hated her last name’ and was struggling to comprehend what her brother had done
Mert Ney is accused of killing a woman before running through central Sydney with a large knife and stabbing another. He was restrained by civilians and firefighters using a crowbar, a chair and a crate (pictured)
Linda Bo was stabbed in the back and was taken by ambulance from Hotel CBD at the corner of King and York Street in Sydney
Her mother was so stressed by the incident she had to see doctors on Tuesday night and hasn’t been eating, she said.
‘I wish there was a way I could make it better for her,’ the sister said.
Ney’s distraught mother broke down in tears when she was told her son had been arrested and even told police they ‘got the wrong man’.
Another of the sisters, Yazel, has also revealed she reported her brother to police just six days before the alleged rampage, claiming he punched her in the face and choked her, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Police confirmed they were searching for Ney last week in relation to the domestic violence allegation. Ney was also known to police over a series of minor crimes and faced court in June after he was caught with weapons, including knuckledusters.
Police discovered a knuckle duster and toy gun at the family home of the Sydney CBD knife rampage accused just months ago, after they were called to his house to deal with an incident.
Court documents said NSW police were called to Ney’s home for an ‘unrelated matter’ on April 5 that resulted in him being ‘taken to Westmead Hospital for treatment’.
While at the home, officers noticed ‘one black metal knuckle duster’ on a book shelf in his room as well as parts of a green and black toy Glock ‘scattered’ on another shelf, a facts sheet said.
Britons, including a Thai boxing champion, are hailed as heroes after chasing knifeman and pinning him down with a MILK CRATE
Three Britons, including one who is a Muay Thai boxing champion, have been hailed as ‘heroes’ by police after they helped detain the knifeman.
Lee Cuthbert, Paul O’Shaughnessy and Luke O’Shaughnessy, all from Manchester, were working in the area when they heard the man attempting to stab several people outside.
They described the moment they apprehended the suspect as being likely down to ‘instinct’, with dramatic eyewitness footage appearing to show a young man being pinned to the floor with chairs and a milk crate.
Paul O’Shaughnessy, 37, a former midfielder with Bury between 1999 and 2004, told reporters: ‘He had a balaclava on, he was wielding a knife with blood on it.
‘And we were like: ‘Wow, what is going on here?’
Three Britons have been hailed as ‘heroes’ by police after they helped detain the knifeman. Lee Cuthbert(left), Paul O’Shaughnessy (centre) and Luke O’Shaughnessy (right), all from Manchester, were working in the area when they heard the man attempting to stab several people outside
Footage showed the attacker being pinned to the ground by hero bystanders carrying milk crates. Police then swooped and made an arrest
‘We went down the escalator and continued to chase the guy where other people were going away because obviously he was wielding a knife.
‘I don’t know whether it was an instinct thing or not what, but we was like, right, we’ve got to try and restrain this guy from doing any more.
‘My brother and I just ran across here, these boys followed, and we managed to get a grip with him and another guy.
‘We’ve got a grip of him and restrained him fully, and then just waited for the cops to come. He’s got blood all over him.’
Brother Luke, 30, a champion Muay Thai boxer, told PA: ‘I just wanted to make sure he couldn’t hurt anyone else.
‘We’ve talked before about what we would do when we hear about these things happening around the world.
‘We’re the kind of guys who ask questions later and act on instinct. If it happened again I would do it again and act quicker.’
The pair, who run digital talent agency MAP Talent, were in their office on York Street when the drama unfolded at around 3.15pm local time (6.15am BST).
Luke said they spoke of the danger they were running into as they jumped into the lift to go and help.
‘I heard a massive commotion outside,’ he told PA.
Paul O’Shaughnessy (right and left, in his playing days with Bury in 2003), speaking with a distinctive northern accent, told reporters the man ‘had a balaclava on, he was wielding a knife with blood on it’
Lee Cuthbert (pictured) said Luke, with the help of another man, ‘managed to get him down on to the floor and pin him down’ with chairs and a plastic crate before police arrived
‘I shouted ‘Paul, let’s go there’s a man with a knife’. As we came down in the lift I said ‘seriously, he’s covered in blood’.
‘We came out onto King Street and ran from there all the way round trying to chase him.
‘Eventually we caught up with him and I just apprehended him and pinned him down.
‘He had a knife. It was next to him covered in blood.’
Other passers-by also stopped to help, including two firefighters.
The brothers said they kept the attacker detained until the police arrived on scene.
Paul, a father-of-two who has lived in Sydney for 11 years, said he felt it was his way of giving back to a country which had welcomed him with open arms.
‘The thing I will reflect on is that I’ve given something back today by doing what’s right and that the British can do Britain proud by coming to another country and doing what they can to help,’ he said
New South Wales Police Superintendent Gavin Wood, speaking to reporters near the scene, said: ‘A number of members of the public actually physically restrained the offender.
‘And I want to acknowledge those people, those members of the public who got involved. They are brave, and I can only use that word seriously.
Convinced it was a terrorist attack, Luke O’Shaughnessy (right) – a champion Muay Thai boxer – led the chase
Luke O’Shaughnessy (pictured) chased the attacker and managed to pin him to the ground
‘They are significantly brave people. They approach the person … with clear evidence of a stabbing previously. These people are heroes, and I want to acknowledge that.
‘These members of the public going about their day-to-day business have jumped into a situation which was extremely dangerous, extremely hostile, and they have brought a person – who we will be alleging stabbed an innocent person for no specific reason – into custody and allowed us to do our job.’
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison commended the bystanders for intervening.
He posted on Twitter: ‘The violent attack that took place in Sydney this afternoon is deeply concerning.
‘The attacker is now in police custody following the brave actions of those who were present at the scene and able to restrain him.
‘The motivation for this attack has not yet been determined as police are continuing with their enquiries.
‘Our thoughts are with all of those who have been impacted by this violent attack.’
Ney later admitted owning the knuckleduster, saying he ‘purchased it a number of years ago from the internet’ and ‘never took it out of the premises.’
He was charged with possessing a prohibited weapon and pleaded guilty to the charge after appearing at Blacktown Local Court unrepresented.
Ney was sentenced to a nine month conditional release order which banned him from committing any offences.
The sister said extremist material allegedly found on a USB stick on Ney’s person was ‘news to me’.
She said it seemed he was ‘using religion as an excuse’ and that her family were not Islamic.
‘I saw a lot of news about terrorism and stuff,’ she said. ‘My family don’t practise Islam. I know I’m dark skinned and look like I’m from the Middle East, that’s going to be a obvious thing.
‘But obviously, how I’m dressed, I’m not Islamic. My mum’s not Islamic, my sister’s not Islamic, my dad’s probably straight up atheist. We’ve got like nothing to do with Islam at all.’
She said her brother may have screamed ‘Allahu Akbar’ to scare people and that she was estranged from him.
‘It’s a scary thing to hear… It could be a tactic I guess, that’s it.’
The family had feared he was a ‘threat to himself’ last week, and confirmed he had absconded from a hospital mental health ward last week. Police have confirmed he was then reported missing.
The sister said she was ‘so shocked’ when she found out what happened.
‘I was coming back from the city. I didn’t hear anything about it until people said hey, look at the news. I still can’t believe it’s him.’
She said the family never thought he was violent but he was known to be mentally ill.
She broke down in tears after speaking to reporters, saying she never would have thought he was capable of what he allegedly did.
‘We didn’t know he would do this … he’s never been violent in the past.’
It comes as more details emerged of Ney’s alleged victim, Michaela Dunn.
Police are seen taking evidence from stabbing suspect Ney’s home in western Sydney after spending hours inside
Ney stands accused of shutting down Sydney’s CBD during a terrifying rampage that left a 24-year-old sex worker dead. The woman’s body is seen being taken from her home
Pictures shared to social media showed Ms Dunn travelled through Sri Lanka and the US in the past year, as well as previously holidaying in Europe.
Police said while the body had not yet been formally identified, it was believed to be that of Ms Dunn.
‘While her family appreciate the support offered by the community, they have requested their privacy at this difficult time,’ a statement from police read.
‘The investigation into the circumstances surrounding Michaela’s murder is being led by detectives from the Homicide Squad under Strike Force Lalchere.’
Detectives are going through the pair’s phones to establish the nature of the relationship she had with Ney.
The victim had a personal listing on Locanto under the section ‘men seeking women’, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said Ney had visited the woman for ‘business purposes’.
‘It appears he (Ney) was there for a business purpose,’ he said.
Ms Dunn has been remembered as ‘incredible’ by Joan Westenberg, who said she first met Ms Dunn when she was a 14-year-old ‘kid’ in high school. Ms Westenbeg dated Ms Dunn’s sister for six years.
‘Mikki was like my baby sister. I cannot describe how sad and how broken I am at this moment,’ she wrote on social media. ‘I loved this kid. She was incredible.’
‘I am angry that male violence has taken another victim. Selfishly I am so angry that the victim is a young woman I deeply respected and cared about. Mikki was a true delight to know.’
Ms Westenberg also said Ms Dunn ‘deserved to be safe while she worked’, adding that ‘sex work is work’.
The dead woman’s neighbours said they were shocked by the gruesome killing, and said they had not heard a thing.
Sindy Tang, who lives on level three of the Clarence Street building, had been at work during the ordeal and returned home on Tuesday night to find police surrounding the building.
She told Daily Mail Australia she was worried at first when she saw the news, but does not feel unsafe living in the building.
SISTER OF CRAZED SYDNEY KNIFEMAN WAS ‘CHOKED AND PUNCHED DAYS BEFORE RAMPAGE’:
A sister of the man accused of going on a violent rampage through central Sydney claims she was choked and punched by her brother just days before the alleged attack.
The city was thrown into chaos on Tuesday afternoon when Mert Ney, 21, stormed through the centre of the city brandishing a large kitchen knife.
A woman was found with her throat slashed inside a nearby unit and another was found in the back of a pub with a stab wound to her back.
Ney, 21, grew up in a brick home (pictured) in Marayong, near Blacktown, the middle sibling of two siblings and the son of Turkish-Cypriot parents
Ney was detained at about 2pm as heroic bystanders made a citizens’ arrest, and police were soon on the scene.
His sister Yazel told The Daily Telegraph she notified police about her brother just six days earlier after she was allegedly punched in the face and choked.
‘He ran at me, punched and choked me, I couldn’t breathe.’
Police earlier confirmed they were on the search for Ney last week in relation to a domestic violence issue.
Yazel said she felt disgusted at her brother’s alleged behavior and called him a ‘monster’.
She claimed her brother had battled depression and schizophrenia for a number of years but she could not pinpoint where the trouble began.
‘It’s a bit scary because you move into the city thinking you’re going to be nice and safe and close to work … I guess anything can happen anywhere.’
She said she did not know the woman who was killed and was unaware of any sort of sex trade happening in the apartment next door.
She said it was mainly office workers and families coming in and out of the building. Another neighbour, Ketki Gupta, said she was still struggling to comprehend what had happened.
‘I’m absolutely shocked,’ she said.
‘I’ve lived here for like three years, and there’s never been anything like this.’
Ketki said the apartments were nice inside, and most of her neighbours were quiet. She said she hadn’t met the woman living next door, and didn’t know her name.
The woman said she had come home for lunch on Tuesday afternoon at about 1.30pm.
During this time, she said she heard nothing coming from next door, and had no idea of the chaos that was about to unfold.
Pedestrians were seen running in terror as the bloodied knifeman charged through the street yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’.
Ney was eventually detained at about 2pm as heroic workers from nearby offices made a citizens’ arrest, and police were soon on the scene.
He was taken to hospital under police guard and was yet to be charged.
He has been described as a ‘quiet loner’ who ‘spent all day on the computer’, with western Sydney locals confessing they never would have expected such violence from him.
A man with a knife (left) can be seen walking towards a bystander (right) who was forced to use a chair to protect himself
Police Commissioner Mick Fuller today revealed that he had been reported missing before Tuesday’s dramatic rampage on Clarence Street.
It was later revealed he had been staying at a halfway house in Blacktown, in western Sydney, on the night before the alleged attack.
Courtney Ridgeway, 19, and Nathan Tgiy, 16, told Nine News they met Ney on Monday night and described him as ‘agitated’ and ‘scary’.
The pair said they were in the room next to his and heard him discussing terrorism.
Ney is currently under police guard at hospital but is expected to be charged with attempted murder and assault when he is deemed medically fit to speak with police.
Police said Ney was carrying a USB stick ‘suggesting he had some ideologies related to terrorism’ and referencing the Christchurch mosque attacks and mass shooting in the U.S.
Commissioner Fuller said investigators would be looking at his Facebook history and searching chatrooms to see if there is some evidence link to terrorism.
Police have not ruled out possible terrorism charges, he said.
He said there was nothing globally to link him to terrorism but they haven’t interviewed him yet.
‘I mean, just having some footage saved on a USB drive is not a leap far enough for me to say that this is a terrorist incident.
Police said Ney had previously been involved in a series of minor crimes, but nothing that compares to these allegations.
According to The Daily Telegraph, Ney had a weapons charge dismissed by a magistrate in June.
He was caught with knuckledusters, but was let off under a Section 10 without conviction in Blacktown Local Court.
Police went to Ney’s home in Marayong following a ‘concern for welfare’ report and found the knuckledusters.
He pleaded guilty to having the weapon and was sentenced to a conditional release order, while no conviction was recorded.
The conditions included that he seek help for his mental health.
Weeks later, on August 7, Ney arrived at Blacktown Hospital’s emergency department after suffering a drug overdose.
He was last seen bursting out of an ambulance at 6.40am the following day and police were informed.
Medication was also found close to the spot he was apprehended – and was identified as a drug used to combat anti-anxiety called antinex, Channel Seven reported.
EXCLUSIVE: The cheeky-grinned schoolboy who became a bloodied knifeman: How Sydney attacker was a picture of innocence – before he ‘slashed a sex worker’s throat’ and sparked six minutes of chaos
By Lauren Ferri, Charlie Coe, Hannah Moore and Daniel Piotrowski for Daily Mail Australia
A school photo taken of Mert Ney in Year 8 shows the otherwise ‘lonely and weird’ teenager smiling in his Blacktown Boys High School uniform
He looks like any other teenager, grinning cheekily – and a little awkwardly – for a photo for his school yearbook.
But Mert Ney, now aged 21, would go on to cause untold mayhem in Sydney’s CBD years later, after allegedly murdering a sex worker and stabbing another woman during a six-minute rampage that sent shockwaves around Australia.
Ney was arrested at about 2pm on Tuesday after he was stopped in his tracks by heroic bystanders, who used chairs and milk crates to pin him down on Wynyard Street in the heart of the city.
The bloodied knifeman was earlier seen on the corner of King and Clarence Street, wielding a large blade and calling on someone to shoot him.
Those scenes were a far cry from a school photo taken of him in Year 8, showing the teenager smiling in his Blacktown Boys High School uniform.
Ney grew up in a brick home in Marayong, near Blacktown in Sydney’s west, the middle of three siblings and the son of Turkish-Cypriot parents.
‘He was not much of a talker,’ said Reen Elomari, who went to primary school with Ney at Marayong Public.
Another man who went to high school with Ney told Daily Mail Australia his former classmate recently converted to Islam, and had been posting about his newfound religion on social media.
Police said Ney was carrying a USB stick ‘suggesting he had some ideologies related to terrorism’ and referencing the Christchurch mosque attacks and mass shooting in the US.
‘He always used to walk fast, not many friends, never used to say anything.
‘I always used to see him roam around the streets alone. I would see him around my house. I’d see him maybe a couple of times [at the shops at Westpoint], just alone’.
One of his sisters would play hot potato in the front yard of one of Ms Elomari’s relatives, but the shy boy refused to participate and would stand there with his arms crossed.
‘He’d say, ”time to go home”,’ she recalled.
Alleged attacker Mert Ney is believed to have acted at random, and is expected to be charged. He is seen being restrained by witnesses and police
Neighbours that knew Ney growing up say he was ‘not much of a talker’ and wouldn’t interact with others. Police are pictured outside his home
The Marayong home of suspect Mert Ney was being searched by NSW Police on Tuesday night in Sydney’s west
But she and family members said they never would have anticipated the violence and were stunned when Facebook began lighting up with reports of the identity of the accused knifeman.
Another neighbour, Jenny Threadgold, said he was believed to have mental health problems and reports have claimed he had absconded from a treatment facility in recent days.
Friends who went to school with Ney claim he had recently converted to Islam and was an ‘odd person’.
A man who was in the same class as Ney in high school said he was shocked at reports he was behind the attacks.
‘I always thought he was a bit weird and he was always posting [on Facebook] about converting [to Islam] and stuff like that,’ the man, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
‘[But] I didn’t expect him to go this far.’
Ney’s Facebook page has since been deleted, but another school friend claims to have spoken to him just last week, saying he planned to attend a music festival.
‘He just had a vibe, he was just an odd person – he didn’t have many friends,’ he said.
Ney is expected to be charged on Wednesday at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
Those charges are not yet known as NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said they found information on the man including a USB stick ‘suggesting he had some ideologies related to terrorism’.
A woman was stabbed outside Hotel CBD and was taken away in an ambulance from the scene of the stabbing in Sydney
The area has been blocked off by police while investigations continue on Tuesday afternoon
The thumb drive referenced mass shootings in New Zealand and the USA – including March’s Christchurch terror attack, police said.
He said investigators would be looking at his Facebook history and searching chatrooms to see if there is some evidence link to terrorism.
Police have not ruled out possible terrorism charges, he said.
He said there was nothing globally to link him to terrorism but they haven’t interviewed him yet.
Police said Ney had previously been pinged for a series of minor crimes, but nothing that compares to these allegations.
According to The Daily Telegraph, Ney had a weapons charge dismissed by a magistrate in June.
He was caught with knuckledusters, but was let off under a Section 10 without conviction in Blacktown Local Court.
Police went to Ney’s home in Marayong following a ‘concern for welfare’ report and found the knuckledusters.
He pleaded guilty to having the weapon and was sentenced to a conditional release order, while no conviction was recorded. The conditions included that he seek help for his mental health.
Weeks later, on August 7, Ney arrived at Blacktown Hospital’s emergency department after suffering a drug overdose.
He was last seen bursting out of an ambulance at 6.40am the following day and police were informed.
Police were on the search for Ney last week in relation to a domestic violence issue that reportedly involved his sister.
Medication was also found close to the spot he was apprehended – and was identified as a drug used to combat anti-anxiety called antinex, Channel Seven reported.