A man has revealed the horrific moment he discovered a surfer stabbed multiple times during an early morning attack on a popular New South Wales beach.
Kye Schaefer, 22, was fatally stabbed in the neck and chest after leaving the surf at Park Beach on Ocean Parade in Coffs Harbor shortly after 6am on Thursday.
A local man who had been sleeping rough in the car park said he saw Schaefer slumped on the ground next to his car before emergency services arrived.
“I put on my jogging pants and I saw him… it looked like he was sitting on the floor, against the driver’s door,” she told 7News.
“All I could see were his legs in his wetsuit. It looked like he was sitting there and I couldn’t see much of him except his legs.
“Then I came back from my run and there were police officers who wouldn’t let me into the parking lot… there were all these police officers everywhere.”
The family of Kye Schaefer, 22, has mourned the sudden and tragic loss of the young man with a ‘heart of gold’
The man said they had seen Mr. Schaefer arrive at the beach early every morning for the past week.
The revelations come as Schaefer’s family mourns the sudden and tragic loss of the young man with a “heart of gold.”
His uncle, Ralph, told 2BG radio that his nephew had a “kind and caring nature.”
“He was a lovely young man,” she said Friday.
“He definitely had a mischievous side. He loved to laugh, but most of all he had a heart of gold.
Coffs businesswoman Sandy Ryman told The Daily Telegraph that Schaefer was a well-liked young man.
“He was an extremely gentle soul, soft-spoken, polite and well-mannered,” she said.
‘The whole family are wonderful people.
Schaefer, 22, was fatally stabbed in the neck and chest after leaving the surf at Park Beach on Ocean Parade in Coffs Harbor shortly after 6am on Thursday.
“We were privileged to have both Kye and his father Tony and Kye’s sister Mimi work for us, and Tony and his wife Pam have become good friends.”
Cowper MP Pat Conaghan wrote on social media after the attack that more needed to be done to stop violent knife crime.
“My thoughts this afternoon are with the family and friends of the young man stabbed to death on one of the beautiful beaches in our region,” he said.
“Since I have two children, I can only imagine what you are going through.”
A local man who had been sleeping rough in the car park said he saw Mr Schaefer slumped on the ground next to his car before emergency services arrived.
Conaghan urged the New South Wales government to consider introducing legislation similar to Jack’s Law.
The law was recently passed in Queensland following the fatal stabbing of 19-year-old Jack Beasley on the Gold Coast in 2019.
Coffs MP Gurmesh Singh said the community was in a state of “significant fear and trauma”.
“I was actually in Sydney for the Bondi incident a few weeks ago and the feeling of Sydney was suspended overnight – this incident has done the same thing in Coffs,” he said.
“There is a lot of fear and trauma in the community right now and I would encourage anyone who needs mental health support to seek it immediately through available channels.”