‘Shocked’ family of mum slain in alleged deadly sword attack unite in grief with dreadlocked woman who escaped brutal axe horror

EXCLUSIVE

A woman who nearly died in an axe attack has started a GoFundMe appeal for the slain mother of three who was reportedly killed in a horrific sword attack last week.

Annette Kiss, 53, reportedly died when new housemate Benjamin Art, 42, attacked her with a sword, a meat cleaver and a claw hammer at their shared Russell Lea home in Sydney’s west last Thursday.

When police arrived, they reportedly found Art lying on Ms. Kiss’ body with the sword. It was a terrifying scene that deeply affected the emergency workers.

Now family friend Sharon Hacker has started a GoFundMe for Kiss’ family, after revealing that she is a close friend of the mother of four’s eldest son.

However, she is in mourning with her family after experiencing a terrorist attack herself seven years ago. In addition, a deranged trans woman tried to cut off her head with an axe.

Ms Hacker was buying milk at an Enmore petrol station in Sydney’s west in 2017 when she was attacked by the mentally ill assailant in a horrific scene compared to a Quentin Tarantino film.

Evie Amati, now 31, was planning to kill three strangers when she attacked a man at the gas station and punched him in the face.

‘She [then] “He immediately turned around and hit me in the back of the head with both hands,” Hacker said after the attack.

Ms Hacker, who has dreadlocks, said authorities told her her thick, braided hairstyle saved her life during the brutal attack.

‘They said I was lucky [still] have a head,” she revealed. “They said it looked like a Quentin Tarantino movie.”

A court heard that Amati had been on a Tinder date before the late-night attack and had felt ashamed of being transgender before taking a cocktail of drink and drugs.

She was jailed for a minimum of eight years for the attack, after her sentence was almost doubled on appeal.

Now her victim, Ms Hacker, 50, has launched a GoFundMe appeal for Ms Kiss’ heartbroken children, who had only moved into the shared home five weeks earlier.

Police allege that roommate Art ran into the house brandishing weapons, yelled at his four roommates to sit down and began showing Ms. Kiss text messages from an unknown sender on his phone.

‘You’re trying to frame me, who should try to kill me? Who is that girl texting me?’ he allegedly screamed, according to court documents.

“You’re trying to frame me or have me killed, now you’re trying to kill me.”

Art is said to have held Ms Kiss by the neck before grabbing the cleaver, while another female housemate used a chair to stop the alleged attack before fleeing and calling police.

Detectives later said it was one of the worst crime scenes they had ever encountered.

On Friday, a neighbour told Daily Mail Australia that the surviving housemates were “too traumatised” to return to the house and collect their belongings.

Days after the horror attack, Ms Hacker launched a campaign to raise money for Ms Kiss’ three adult children: Six, Samuel and Hayely.

“On June 27, someone took Annette Kiss’ life,” she wrote in the appeal.

‘This was a huge shock and now her three children are trying to pick up the thread again and give her a dignified farewell.

‘Given the nature of her death, it is a more complex matter than normal and her children will need to take significant time off to deal with not only her affairs and assets, but ultimately the legal process to hopefully get justice.

‘There was no warning of her death so the family have dropped everything to ensure the funeral is carried out properly and the sudden influx of costs is quite stressful for them.

“What makes it more difficult is that you can’t plan everything, because it all depends on the police and the processes.”

In a moving message, she said that her eldest son Six had supported her in the same way after her violent attack.

“When I was attacked, he set up a Go Fund Me and because of your support, I didn’t lose my business during my recovery,” she said.

‘Any help would be greatly appreciated now to sort out her affairs and help Six during this devastating time.’

The fundraiser has already raised $7,450 of the $10,000 goal.

On Friday, Art was represented by lawyer Javid Faiz at Parramatta Bail Court on Friday. He did not apply for bail, but this was formally refused.

“My client understands the seriousness of the matter,” Mr Faiz said outside court, according to the Daily Telegraph.

“He has instructed me not to file a request for release today.”

His case will return to Burwood Local Court on August 22.

Detective Chief Inspector Christine McDonald said Thursday that Art had no history of violence and said he was not romantically involved with Ms Kiss.