NSW: Mother appeals for help to find screwdriver attacker

AAP General News (Australia)
04-19-2007
NSW: Mother appeals for help to find screwdriver attacker

By Katelyn John

SYDNEY, April 19 AAP - A likely drug user threatened a baby with a screwdriver before
slamming his terrified mother's head against a tree and tipping over the pram in a daytime
robbery in Sydney's inner-west.

Natasha Walsh, 23, had just withdrawn money from an automatic teller machine (ATM)
and was walking her three-month-old son along a quiet street in Leichhardt when a man
with a striking red mohawk stopped her.

He demanded she hand over all her cash and belongings.

Ms Walsh said she quickly complied when she realised the man was pointing a screwdriver
at her baby, Joseph.

After she handed over her money, handbag and watch, the robber lifted the pram and
turned it over before grabbing the back of Ms Walsh's head and slamming it into a tree.

At that point, Ms Walsh said, she feared her son could have been dead, but he apparently
slept through the whole thing.

"I went to see if he was okay. I didn't know if his neck might have snapped or his
head had hit the concrete," she told reporters in Sydney today.

"He was asleep (but) afterwards I thought he might have been knocked out - I didn't
know if he was alive. I was really panicked."

Ms Walsh said that after the attack she went to the closest house and was taken in
by a family who called the police and helped with her baby.

She said she is now too scared to take her daily walk along Flood Street with her son,
and is dismayed that such a brutal attack could have happened in the quiet street in broad
daylight.

"It was very distressing to think somebody would try to harm my baby ...," Ms Walsh said.

"I hate him for what he did and for (potentially) hurting my baby even though he slept
through it all, he might not have ... It's disgusting.

Detective Inspector Peter Bailey said he believed the facial sores or blemishes on
her attacker's face and his conduct indicated he had a drug problem.

"Attacking a young woman and child ... on a public street, the sores on his face -
it's clearly an indication he's a drug user," Det Insp Bailey said.

Police today appealed for public help to find the offender.

They described him as being of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean appearance, aged in
his mid 20s, 188cm tall and of thin build.

He had black gelled-back hair with a red mohawk and was wearing a bright red jumper
at the time of the incident.

"Somebody must have some knowledge of this individual - of who he is, where he lives,
or they may of seen him in the vicinity," Det Insp Bailey said.

"He's striking in his appearance."

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

AAP kaj/hn/it/cdh

KEYWORD: SCREWDRIVER (PIC AVAILABLE)

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