A woman who was allegedly murdered in her home by her tenant last week was also the landlord of a man imprisoned years earlier for a brutal murder she blamed on “witches from hell.”
Donna Baraket, 63, was found dead inside her home in Tweed Heads, on the Queensland-New South Wales border, last Wednesday after neighbors called emergency services concerned for her well-being.
Her tenant Connor Bulluss, 25, was found in a nearby pharmacy with blood and cuts on his hands and later charged with her murder.
Bulluss had been living in the Lakes Drive home with Ms Baraket for two weeks before she evicted him.
In a strange coincidence, Baraket also owned Brendon Troy Griffiths, who murdered a homeless man a decade earlier.
Griffiths, who is currently in prison, lived in Baraket’s home for seven years before the brutal 2014 crime.
Donna Baraket, 63 (pictured), was found dead inside her home in Tweed Heads, on the Queensland-New South Wales border, last Wednesday after neighbors called emergency services concerned about your well being. Her tenant Connor Bulluss, 25, has been charged with her murder.
In a strange coincidence, Ms Baraket also owned Brendon Troy Griffiths (pictured above, inside his home), who was convicted of a murder he later claimed the “witches from hell” made him commit in 2014 .
Griffiths ran towards Hoani Shaune Love (above), knocking him to the ground and causing a brain injury from which the 48-year-old died three days after the attack.
On the night of September 27, 2014, Griffiths returned home and woke up another of Ms Baraket’s tenants, Kym.
Then, aged 38 and suffering from psychotic episodes, he asked Kym to lie about his whereabouts that same night, saying: “If the police come here asking about me, can you tell them I was home all day?”
Griffiths explained that he had encountered a man who aggressively challenged him and he retaliated, saying he “grabbed the guy by the head.”…(and) crushed his head’ and then elbowed and punched the man who ‘fell to the ground’.
The incident Griffiths described occurred on the street outside the Centro Tweed shopping centre, where homeless grandfather Hoani Shaune Love, 48, had been drinking with friends about 6pm.
Griffiths and another man were trying to get drugs from Mr Love and two people he was with at the time.
A “highly intoxicated” Mr Love stared at Griffiths and told him to “leave in strong and vulgar language”, the New South Wales Supreme Court would later find.
Griffiths, who was already taking prescription opioids and benzodiazepines, “became angry and walked behind Mr. Love, grabbing his head, forcibly extending his neck and pushing his thumbs into Mr. Love’s eyes.”
He stopped when Mr Love’s colleagues shouted at him and started to walk away, but then turned around and ran towards the older man.
Griffiths would later admit that ‘A switch in my head just flipped and I turned and ran towards him… 10, 20, 30 meters, enough to do a good sprint and have good solid contact.
“I feel like the witches from hell just reached out and entered my decision-making ability and took control for a few seconds.”
Griffiths’ (pictured) guilty plea to manslaughter was rejected and he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 16 years in prison until 2026.
Griffiths, now 48, was living at Ms Baraket’s Lakes Road home when he murdered Mr Love and was arrested there 10 days later.
Ms Baraket had owned the Lakes Road house where she was allegedly murdered for almost 18 years and rented out spare rooms to tenants.
Mr. Love’s head hit the pavement as he fell from the bench. He died three days later at Gold Coast University Hospital with blunt force trauma and a brain injury.
On the day Mr Love died, Griffiths again asked his flatmate to lie for him.
Griffiths approached Kym in the kitchen of the Lakes Road house and said: ‘Have you spoken to the police? What did you say?’
After telling him that she told the police what he had asked, she demanded to know specifically what he had told her.
Kym responded: “I said, ‘You were here with me. “I told them you were here all afternoon.”
Griffiths responded: “That’s good.” She was not having a psychotic episode when it happened. She knew what he was doing.’
Then he said, ‘Okay, I’ll tell them I was here with you all afternoon. That’s great, that’s sweet.’
According to NSW Supreme Court documents, Kym told the truth to police in two separate statements.
Police arrested Griffiths at Ms Baraket’s Lakes Drive home on October 6, 2014, however he did not go to trial for several years.
He attempted to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter on the grounds that his mental capacity was impaired by schizophrenia, his disordered personality traits, and his substance abuse disorder, but the plea was not accepted.
While in prison, he had told a psychologist about his fears of the mafia and his conspiracy theories about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Bali attacks and aliens.
In September 2018, a judge found him guilty of Love’s murder and sentenced him to 16 years in prison.
Police outside the Lakes Road home last week after Ms Baraket’s body was found inside the house where she had lived for 18 years until her death.
Connor Bulluss was arrested by police and charged with the murder of his landlady, Donna Baraket, who had allegedly evicted him shortly before.
Love’s daughter Toni released a statement about her father’s death, saying her family “couldn’t understand why this happened.”
“My father’s life was cut short at such a young age and no one deserves to lose someone in such a violent and senseless way,” she said.
Griffiths will first be eligible for parole on October 12, 2026.
Bulluss had been renting to Mrs Baraket for about two weeks before she kicked him out a week ago, on February 4, and threw his belongings in the front garden.
On Wednesday, the alleged killer ran into a pharmacy about 10 minutes from Ms. Baraket’s home.
“He came in with his hands cut off and my husband thinks it might have been self-defense,” said Hannah, the pharmacist’s wife.
Neighbors told Daily Mail Australia the Lakes Road property was a known drug house and that Ms Baraket was a user who had been in and out of rehab for years.