A traditional father who died in tragic circumstances on Tuesday had received happy personal news several hours earlier.
Peter Sponza, 52, was “on top of the world” after winning a hard-fought legal battle, but was then allegedly hit by a silver Holden Commodore driven by a man with a machete in the eastern suburb of Bayswater from Perth.
Sponza was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital, where he died a short time later.
On Wednesday night, a 29-year-old man from the state’s Great Southern region was charged with murder.
He was also charged with a number of other offences, including aggravated assault resulting in bodily injury, careless driving, being armed in a manner likely to cause fear and criminal damage or destruction of property.
The man will spend a second night in custody before appearing in Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday.
Mr Sponza was a tradesman for TNE Civil, which maintains the new Bayswater railway station.
The company revealed that Sponza had received a phone call Tuesday morning informing him that his children would be coming home with him.
Peter Sponza (pictured) was “on top of the world” before he was allegedly hit by a silver Holden Commodore driven by a man with a machete.
On Wednesday night, a 29-year-old man was charged with murder over the incident.
“He was on top of the world,” TNE Civil said in a statement.
“Pete was a true gentleman and we are all completely devastated by the passing of our TNE brother.”
The company described him as a “generous, kind and caring man” who died too soon.
He had worked for TNE Civil for about a year and “was excellent at what he did and very committed to his work,” the company added.
“He took care of everyone on his team and we all knew it would be a good day if we worked alongside him,” it said.
“Nothing was ever a bother to him and he would drop everything he was doing just to help someone else.”
Mr. Sponza’s colleagues saw the commodore allegedly hit him and rushed to his aid to try to save his life.
His employer’s statement added that Mr. Sponza was “a family man whose world revolved around his children.”
‘We will organize a commemorative event to remember our dear friend; Details will be available at a later date. “We will miss him beyond words.”
Devastated co-workers who witnessed the confrontational scenes have been offered counseling and time off to grieve, Western Australia reported.
TO GoFundMe The page has been created by a friend to help Mr. Sponza’s grieving children. because ‘he didn’t come home’.
In a few hours more than $12,000 has already been raised.
Peter Sponza had just been told he had been granted full custody of his children when his life was tragically cut short.
Witnesses reported seeing a man allegedly armed with a knife stopping traffic and acting erratically.
Peter Sponza died after he was hit by a Holden Commodore (pictured) in the Perth suburb of Bayswater.
The tragedy occurred around 11am on Tuesday after police were called to reports that a driver was “acting erratically” and “potentially armed with a knife”.
Police said the driver allegedly crashed into a Ford Ranger on Skew Road before getting out of the car with a knife.
Moments after returning to the car, he allegedly fatally struck Mr. Sponza on Rose Avenue.
Police arrested the driver near the scene of the fatal crash a short time later after he allegedly crashed into a traffic light.
Two small children were found in the back seat and were unharmed.
Wayne Small, a local, said the driver of the Commodore swung a machete at the driver of the Ford Ranger before slashing the car’s tires.
“He’s banging his machete on the driver’s window and saying, ‘I’m going to kill you,'” Mr. Small said.
‘He turned around and stabbed all four tires so he couldn’t leave. He returned to his car, to his Commodore, and left.