KICK HIM OUT
HOME HILL RESIDENTS WANT BACKPACKER KILLER DEPORTED
THE man who killed two backpackers in a violent attack at a Home Hill hostel two years ago should be sent home.
That is the feeling of many Burdekin residents still deeply affected by the crime.
Frenchman Smail Ayad ( top) was this week ruled unfit for trial for the murders of Mia Ayliffe- Chung ( above) and Tom Jackson because of an “unsound mind”.
THE mother of murdered backpacker Mia Ayliffe- Chung wants to meet with her killer’s family.
The mother of Smail Ayad reached out to Ms Ayliffe- Chung’s mother Rosie Ayliffe after the killing rampage at Home Hill in 2016.
A message to Ms Ayliffe read: “We share your immense pain and grief because I am a mother first and foremost but words are too weak to ask for forgiveness. My son has never been aggressive, violent or nasty in his past life. He was a peaceful and respectful boy and now he is portrayed as a monster. Our suffering thinking what he has done will never end. It is a nightmare. May you one day find peace in your hearts.”
Ms Ayliffe said she now planned to meet with his mother.
“We both believed that you can only move on to the light through love and forgiveness, and that was the path she ( Mia) tried so hard to tread herself,” Ms Ayliffe posted on social media.
Ms Ayliffe- Chung, 21, was a carefree British backpacker on a working holiday in Australia.
She had studied psychology and childcare in the UK and she normally resided on the Gold Coast, where she had worked as a VIP waitress at popular nightclub The Bedroom.
She was adored by colleagues, who described her as “the life of the party”. Then she travelled to Home Hill. She’d had encounters with creepy crawlies, the hot sun and shared photographs of her greasecovered jeans after long days of farm work.
Both Mia and fellow British backpacker Tom Jackson, 30, were taking part in an 88- day farm work scheme, which is required on a second- year stay in Australia for the 417 visa.
But a paranoia had been brewing inside Ayad, a fellow backpacker.
It’s known that Ayad, 29, had been addicted to drugs. He had smoked up to four joints of cannabis a day for years before the attack.
He was also a kickboxing champion who had trained in Thailand
He developed the delusion that 50 local farmers and hostel staff wanted him dead and would burn his body in a pizza oven.
He dragged British backpacker Ayliffe- Chung from her bed at the Home Hill hostel and stabbed her multiple times in August 2016.
The hostel manager tried to stop the Frenchman’s assault but was himself stabbed in the leg.
Ayad then jumped headfirst from the first- floor balcony and suffered a fractured neck and back.
He stabbed the hostel owner’s dog to death before returning to the room where he had killed Ms Ay- liffe- Chung. He then repeatedly stabbed Tom Jackson, who was trying to help the 21- year- old.
About 30 people witnessed the killings.
Justice Jean Dalton told the Brisbane Mental Health Court the background for the frenzied attacks.
“He thought that a cleaner at the hostel had told him he would be killed when he went to check out and he thought the owner of the hostel was making excuses as to why he couldn’t leave,” Justice Dalton said. “He interpreted her as telling him that he had to die.”
On Thursday Justice Dalton discontinued criminal proceedings against Ayad after finding he was suffering paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attack.
Justice Dalton said the killing of the dog pointed to “how frightened he was and how ill he was”.
Mr Jackson’s father Les told the court he thought of his son at the beginning and end of each day.
“For me, sleepless and disturbed nights with visions of my defenceless son being attacked by a knifewielding professional martial arts fighter or lying in a coma in a hospital bed are not uncommon,” he said.
Thomas was stabbed multiple times in the face, chest and stomach, suffering horrific injuries.
His family later made the decision to turn off his life support machine.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has recommended Tom for the bravery awards in the Australian bravery decoration council.
Ms Ayliffe also wrote on social media of her emotions in the courtroom.
“I know for many people that means nothing. I know you will be wishing him ( Ayad) and his family pain, and anguish and death,” she said. “Suddenly realised what was happening to me. I was becoming Ayad.
“I was developing a paranoid, delusional conspiracy theory in my head which was taking me along the path he trod.
“It was a dark place, and I was angry and I knew I could go as far as I wanted down that path and it would never get any lighter.”