Maria was walking through a parking lot when her controlling gym junkie ex jumped out from behind a concrete pillar, choked her and attacked her with an AX: Here’s what happened when office workers heard her scream
- Cameron Turgay Bardak found guilty of attempted murder
- He attacked ex-girlfriend Maria Buci with an axe
A woman who survived an ax attack has thanked the Good Samaritans for saving her life after her ex-boyfriend was found guilty of attempted murder.
“They are the reason I’m alive today,” Maria Buci said before Brisbane’s Supreme Court on Thursday.
Former security guard Cameron Turgay Bardak was charged after ambushing Maria Buci in July 2020.
He struck her with the ax before strangling her when Good Samaritans tried to intervene.
A Brisbane High Court jury was shown iPhone footage of Bardak on top of Ms Buci with his hands around her throat as several people tried to break them apart.
Ms. Buci became emotional on Thursday when she heard the jury’s verdict.
Maria Buci (pictured) appeared relieved outside the Brisbane High Court after the verdict was handed down
Cameron Turgay Bardak (pictured), pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, but the jury at his trial disagreed
“I want to thank everyone who has stood by my side and stood by me for the past three years – the police, the DPP, the witnesses and everyone who rescued me that night,” Ms Buci said outside court.
‘I am very grateful.’
Bardak had pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of causing grievous bodily harm to Mrs. Buci, whose hand and finger were struck by the axe.
She had a tuft of hair pulled out and her throat was also injured in the attack, the court was told.
However, Crown Prosecutor Chris Cook declined his plea, telling the jury that Bardak had formed the idea that ‘if I can’t have her, no one will’.
Ms. Buci had told the jury that she was choked to death three times when she tried to flee from her ex-boyfriend’s ax attack.
She said the beating had left her physically scarred and she was “mentally still messed up.”
Ms. Buci said she walked through the parking lot and saw Bardak hiding behind a concrete pillar next to her vehicle.
He told her to “get in the car.”
“He said, ‘I’m going to kill you,’ and then I saw the axe. Then I started screaming and he pushed me against the wall,” she told the jury.
Bardak ambushed Ms. Buci in a CBD parking lot as she walked to her car and was only stopped when bystanders came in to heroically drag him away
Ms. Buci speaks to the media out of court, Bardak will be sentenced on Friday
Ms. Buci said Bardak hit her with the ax, causing her to fall before hitting her again with her hands covering her head.
He then began to strangle her.
During the process, employees from nearby offices were heard running into the parking lot after hearing for help.
A witness was struck in the hand by the axe, but was able to hit Bardak in the head and kidneys unsuccessfully in an attempt to stop the attack.
Others from neighboring buildings ran to the scene and helped loosen Bardak’s grip, allowing Mrs. Buci to flee, but he pursued her.
Several people then managed to free her a second time, according to the court.
Ms. Buci agreed on Thursday that the Good Samaritans were “heroic.”
‘Absolute. You don’t see what they did every day and I hope they never have to go through it again,” she told the media.
Bardak told the court that he only bought an ax to force her to talk to him again.
The jury reached a verdict Wednesday morning after they began deliberating.
Bardak will be sentenced on Friday by Judge Glenn Martin.