An Aboriginal home invader is dead after he and another masked man stormed a house armed with an axe, only for the sole occupant to fight back.
Trae Laurie, 29, a convicted armed robber with an Aboriginal flag tattoo under his eye, died of a stab wound to the chest on the verandah of a home in Kingscliff, NSW, on Tuesday night.
Police said the two home invaders broke into the property at about 8pm and attacked 66-year-old grandfather Allan Kerr with an axe, leaving him with a partially severed hand.
But Mr Kerr allegedly grabbed a knife in self-defence and fought back. He was found in his hallway semi-conscious by police and airlifted to Gold Coast University Hospital in a serious condition, but was stable after undergoing surgery on Wednesday morning.
The second attacker, beleived to be aged between 20 and 40, fled the scene and police urged him to hand himself in.
Detective Inspector Matt Zimmer, of Tweed-Byron police said: “It will be alleged the deceased and another unknown male have entered the premises with force and without consent, where they’ve confronted the occupant and struck him multiple times with an axe.
“There is evidence of a significant and violent confrontation that has taken place in the residence.”
He also said police would investigate whether Mr Kerr, a widower who he described as “frail” and lived alone, had acted lawfully and reasonable in relation to the threat posed to him.
It was too early to determine whether the violent home invasion was a case of mistaken identity or a robbery gone wrong.
Laurie previously served time in jail for a 2019 armed robbery, and faced court again in 2022 over an attack on a man on a ride-on mower at an Indigenous reserve outside of Tabulam.
