A terminally ill man who captured hearts after “bravely” choosing to die by euthanasia was a career criminal who spent years behind bars for a series of brutal attacks, including tying up one victim and holding another at knifepoint.
Scott Hollingshed, 58, from Newcastle, made national headlines this week after choosing to end his own life under NSW’s new assisted dying laws.
He was given a lethal injection on Friday after spending the past two months documenting his battle with stage four lung cancer on Facebook, urging Australians in a moving final video to “just love each other and be there for each other.”
His plight touched fans’ hearts, who hailed him as “brave” and “inspiring”, with Australians pledging more than $6,000 to support his cause.
But while Hollingshed may be seen as “inspirational” to some, Daily Mail Australia can reveal that to others he was a violent thug who carried out shocking attacks that left his victims scarred for years.
Over the past four decades, he has been in and out of prison constantly after racking up convictions for weapons, drugs, assault, robbery, burglary and traffic offenses.
In 1993, he was sentenced to six years in prison (with a minimum sentence of four and a half years) after committing two armed robbery offences in Canberra, which the judge described as “of the utmost gravity”.
His first victim *George was watching television at his home in Braddon when Hollingshed, along with two other men, broke in on the evening of 15 January.
Scott Hollingshed, 58 (pictured), died on Friday under NSW’s new assisted dying laws
The group, disguised in balaclavas, tied him up and stole his wallet before using his card to withdraw $200 from an ATM to buy cannabis and amphetamines.
“It was horrific. I was gagged with a sarong and my hands and legs were tied behind my back with rope,” she told Daily Mail Australia.
“They threatened to cut off my fingers. I was there for an hour.”
George said the group appeared to be on drugs at the time and bizarrely ripped both of their phones off the wall and put them in the oven before turning it on.
After fleeing the scene with his belongings, he managed to spit out the gag and scream for help, alerting neighbors who ran to help him.
Although he suffered virtually no physical damage (only bruising to his neck and head), George said the attack left him traumatized for years.
“For a while I couldn’t use public transport. Walking everywhere made me nervous. I didn’t feel safe,” he said.
Two days later, Hollingshed and another associate were searching for new victims in Glebe Park when they spotted Danyel Kynaston, an 18-year-old law student, sitting on a bench with his girlfriend during the early hours of the morning on 17 January.
Hollingshed approached Mr Kynaston with a knife, held the weapon to his throat and demanded he hand over his wallet, which contained his bank cards and driving licence, including personal details such as his home address.
“They took my debit card and said ‘we have your address and we will come back to get you if you don’t give us the correct PIN’,” Kynaston told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I gave them a fake PIN number and the ATM swallowed my card and the police were able to get their fingerprints from the ATM and they were arrested.’
On the night of the attack, Mr Kynaston was on his first date with his wife, who he remains with to this day.
Danyel Kynaston is pictured with his wife in the 1990s, around the time they were attacked by Hollingshed.
The couple were in Glebe Park, Canberra, when they were approached by Hollingshed and another man.
Hollingshed spent his adult life in and out of prison for a variety of crimes.
Fortunately, the couple suffered no physical harm or trauma from the attack.
“Fortunately for us it hasn’t affected us psychologically,” he said.
‘We were young and didn’t realize the danger we were in. However, it was an interesting story about our first date. Thirty-one years later, we are still married.’
Several months after the assault, Hollingshed – who was on parole at the time of the attacks – pleaded guilty to robbery, theft and making a demand with threat to inflict grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to prison.
During Supreme Court proceedings, Chief Justice Jeffrey Miles noted that Hollingshed had previous convictions dating back to 1984 for two robberies, two assaults and theft.
He said Hollingshed had only been released from Cooma jail in July 1992 and had moved in with a married couple, but had to move to the ACT to qualify for parole after having an illicit relationship with the woman.
He also noted that Hollingshed, who had struggled with drug addiction since leaving school, had had “numerous opportunities to respond positively to counselling and treatment over a number of years but has so far been unable to do so”.
Following his release from prison in the late 1990s, Hollingshed continued his downward spiral.
In 2010, former police officer Darren Pickavance filed a workers’ compensation claim against the New South Wales government after developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) while on duty, including an encounter with Hollingshed among the list of traumatic experiences that contributed to his condition.
In the complaint, Pickavance described Hollingshed as a “confidence man and drug dealer” who “loved firearms” and had numerous prior convictions for possessing and using weapons to commit violent crimes.
He said he was left traumatised after being involved in the tracking and subsequent arrest of Hollingshed in 2003, who was wanted after holding a sawed-off shotgun to someone’s head and making threats.
“All vehicles in the area were looking for him. I had reported by radio that I knew the attacker and that I would shoot to avoid being arrested,” the statement reads.
‘While driving through south Cardiff, I saw Hollingshed in a phone box outside the butcher’s shop.
‘I knew he was armed. He hadn’t seen me, so I kept driving, reported it by radio and began to establish a perimeter, keeping an eye on the criminal.
‘It was then that I saw a police vehicle pull up in front of the phone box, jump out of the car and run 10 metres to arrest Hollingshed.
‘It was the longest 10 metres ever. I was too far away to be able to help. My anxiety level throughout the whole incident was extreme. I had chest pains, my heart was racing and I started to sweat.
“This incident had a profound impact on me.”
By documenting her cancer experience online, Hollingshed said she hoped her story would be an inspiration to others to live life to the fullest and turn negatives into positives.
After spending decades in and out of prison, he had just bought a yacht with his partner when he began experiencing chest pains that led to a lung cancer diagnosis.
Other court records obtained by Daily Mail Australia reveal Hollingshed continued to commit crimes until 2020, including a jail term for driving offences in 2016.
Most recently, he had been living on a yacht with his partner Kat, before being diagnosed with cancer several months ago.
Since his death, hundreds of Australians have flocked to his social media page to praise him for his “courage” and “bravery”.
“Rest in peace to a brave man who started his new journey on his own terms,” one person said.
Another wrote: “Rest in peace bro. I’m going to miss your daily posts. Fly high bro, you are an inspiration.”
However, others who appeared to have known Hollingshed were unmoved by the story of his death, with one woman claiming he was a “sexist”.
“Karma has finally caught up with you,” another woman wrote on Facebook.
“You got everything you deserved.”
*Names have been changed to protect identity.