EXCLUSIVE
A woman who was nearly killed in a random ax attack has launched a GoFundMe appeal for the murdered mother-of-three who was allegedly killed in a gruesome sword attack last week.
Annette Kiss, 53, was allegedly killed when her new housemate Benjamin Art, 42, attacked her with a sword, a butcher knife and a hammer last Thursday at their shared Russell Lea home in Sydney’s west.
When police arrived, they allegedly found Art lying over Ms Kiss’s body with the sword in a heartbreaking scene that has devastated first responders.
Now family friend Sharon Hacker has launched a GoFundMe for Ms Kiss’s family after revealing she is close friends with the mother-of-four’s eldest son.
But her grief is tied to her family after experiencing her own terrorist attack seven years ago, when a crazed trans woman tried to cut off her head with an axe.
Hacker was buying milk at a petrol station in Enmore in Sydney’s inner west in 2017 when she was attacked by a mentally ill attacker in a horrific scene compared to a Quentin Tarantino film.
Evie Amati, now 31, had set out to kill three strangers when she attacked a man at a gas station, punching him in the face.
“She immediately turned to me and with both hands she hit me in the back of the head,” Hacker revealed after the attack.
Annette Kiss, 55, was allegedly murdered by her new housemate on Thursday morning.
Benjamin Art (pictured) has been charged over the alleged violent murder of his housemate.
Ms Hacker, who has dreadlocks, said authorities told her her thick braided hairstyle had saved her life during the brutal attack.
“They said (I) was lucky to (still) have a head,” he revealed. “They said it was like a Quentin Tarantino movie.”
A court heard Amati had been on a Tinder date before the late-night attack and had been embarrassed about being transgender before having a cocktail of drink and drugs.
She was sentenced to a minimum of eight years in prison for the attack after her sentence was almost doubled on appeal.
Now her victim, Ms Hacker, 50, has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help Ms Kiss’s heartbroken children, who had moved into the shared home just five weeks earlier.
Police allege that his housemate Art ran into the house brandishing weapons, yelled at his four housemates to sit down and began showing Kiss text messages from an unknown sender on his phone.
‘You’re trying to set me up, who do you have trying to kill me? Who is the girl that’s texting me?’ he allegedly screamed, according to court documents.
“You’re trying to set me up or get me killed, now you’re trying to kill me.”
Art allegedly held Ms Kiss by the neck before grabbing the knife, while another housemate used a chair to try 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 neighbor told Daily Mail Australia that the surviving housemates are “too traumatized” to return to the house and collect their things.
Days after the horrific attack, Ms Hacker launched a fundraising campaign for Ms Kiss’s three adult children – Six, Samuel and Hayely.
“On June 27, someone took the life of Annette Kiss,” he wrote in the appeal.
‘This was a huge shock and now his three children are working to pick up the pieces and give him a worthwhile farewell.
“Given the nature of his death, it is a more complex matter than usual and his children have to take considerable time not only to deal with his affairs and belongings, but also, eventually, court cases to hopefully obtain justice.
‘There was no warning about his death so the family dropped everything to make sure the funeral was done well and the sudden influx of costs is quite stressful for them.
“What makes it more difficult is that there is no way to plan everything, as everything depends on the police and the processes.”
Annette Kiss pictured with her adult children Six (left), Samuel (right) and Hayley (center back)
In a moving message, she said her eldest son, Six, had been similarly supportive after her violent attack.
“When I was attacked, he created a Go Fund Me and his support helped me not lose my business during my recovery,” she said, adding.
“Any help now is greatly appreciated to help resolve his issues and help Six during this devastating time.”
The fundraiser has already raised $7,450 of a total of $10,000.
On Friday, Art was represented by lawyer Javid Faiz at Parramatta Bail Court. He did not apply for bail but was formally refused bail.
“My client understands the seriousness of the matter,” Faiz said outside court, according to the Daily Telegraph.
“He has ordered me not to submit any application for release today.”
His matter will return to Burwood Local Court on August 22.
Superintendent Christine McDonald said Thursday that Art had no violent history and said he was not in a romantic relationship with Kiss.
