‘Best friend’: Man’s vulgar questions before terrifying attack on ex-girlfriend’s new partner
WARNING: Disturbing content
On an autumn day, a petrified woman ran out of her home and down the street of a leafy suburb on Sydney’s northern beaches.
When she looked back, she saw her partner lying on the ground and her ex-boyfriend holding what appeared to be a knife on top of her.
The woman continued running, trying to climb a tree to escape the ordeal, then gave up and armed herself with a traffic cone in an attempt to help her partner.
When she returned home, her boyfriend’s white shirt was stained with blood and her former partner, Joshua Wayne Rook, was apologizing to his “best friend” whom he had just stabbed in a jealous rage over Rook’s relationship with the woman with whom he had previously been in a long-term relationship.
Rook, 33, was jailed for more than a year this week after admitting stalking his ex-partner, intimidating her and stabbing the woman’s new boyfriend.
Rook and the woman had previously been in a relationship, but she had only wanted to be friends with Rook for about a year before the stabbing, court documents showed.
The woman had taken her ex-partner to Rook’s house the day of the stabbing because she didn’t feel safe going alone and Rook had turned down his suggestion to meet somewhere more public, such as a restaurant, to talk.
When they arrived at the Northern Beaches home, the woman went inside with Rook’s mother, while the 33-year-old woman waited outside with the woman’s new boyfriend, whom Rook described as her “best friend” when she spoke to police that day, according to court documents.
Rook “became agitated” when the man rejected her request to “not move forward with her” and walked in and asked the woman if she loved her friend, “had she fucked him” and if he was her “new boyfriend,” according to the documents.
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The woman asked Rook to calm down and said Rook wouldn’t answer her before running out the front door as he grabbed a serrated kitchen knife.
The 33-year-old man fixed his gaze on his friend, who was still standing by the door.
Rook stabbed the man during a struggle; At one point, his friend fell on his back and kicked his feet in an attempt to create space between himself and Rook.
“The offender stood over him for approximately a minute trying to stab him,” documents state.
The woman continued running down the street as the attack continued.
“When he looked back, he saw (his partner) on the ground and… the criminal was on top of him… holding what could have been a knife,” the documents state.
She tried to climb a tree, but instead armed herself with a traffic cone and turned back to help her boyfriend.
Sentencing Rook at Downing Center Local Court on Tuesday, Judge Karen Stafford said: “Of course he was terrified, he ran out of the house, he almost started climbing a tree outside, that’s how scared he was. You then opened the door and stabbed his current partner.”
Seeing the man bleeding, Rook began “begging” his friend and the woman not to go to the hospital or call the police for fear he would go to jail, but the man said he did not care and eventually sought hospital treatment.
Rook was arrested later that evening, telling police the woman “came to talk to him about breaking up”, but despite Rook asking him not to enter the property, he “became enraged” and attacked the woman’s new boyfriend, allegedly pushing the front door open and entering the house. Rook told police she was “going through a really bad breakup,” according to court documents.
Rook’s mother also told him “not to lie and tell the truth” when police questioned him about a knife; Rook denied having a knife or stabbing anyone during the fight and asked if he would go to jail.
The attacker ‘could not accept being told no’
He was later charged and pleaded guilty to intimidation and negligent injury.
Judge Stafford told Rook he was not provoked during the ordeal and told the court he had “asked deeply inappropriate questions” before the offences.
He also told the court about his previous domestic violence convictions, stating some of them were “similar” to assault.
Ms Stafford told the court: “The facts of the events in some of them are actually quite similar in the lead up to this, which is that you actually want to have control over your former partners and then, in many ways, when you can’t accept being told no, you act in an intimidating or violent way.”
Ms Stafford found no evidence that Rook was “genuinely remorseful” but said he had attended rehabilitation programs during his time in custody.
Stalking/intimidating, intimidating, physical etc. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison for causing harm and two years in prison for negligent injury.
Because his sentence was adjusted retroactively, taking into account time spent in custody, he will be eligible for release at the end of his parole period on June 22 this year.
