The final words of 24-year-old Sydney woman Michaela Dunn before she was stabbed to death two years ago were: “Are you ok?”
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that her killer Mert Ney, now 22, has pleaded guilty to murdering Dunn in the 2019 Sydney stabbing. The new information about her final moments came to light at his trial on Tuesday.
Ney had arrived at Dunn’s CBD apartment for a sex work appointment when Dunn asked if he was alright.
Ney said he “didn’t feel like talking” and decided to leave. He then pulled out a 12cm knife to pressure Dunn to move out of his way.
When Dunn started screaming, Ney said he “just started stabbing her in the neck to just make her be quiet,” according to the Herald. He then finally murdered Dunn with a kitchen knife from her own apartment.
News Corp reports that afterward, Ney reveled in Dunn’s death and posted footage of her bloody body on Snapchat.
The publication also noted that heaps of people in the court opted to leave for a moment while the horrific footage was played. However, Dunn’s mother was among those who stayed back.
After stabbing Dunn to death, Ney ran into the street and screamed “Allah akbar” before stabbing another person, Lin Bo, who thankfully survived her injuries.
“I dropped like a hunted animal. Blood pouring from my side,” Bo said in a statement which was read to the NSW Supreme Court on her behalf.
“I am still hugely afraid of the possibility of going back in the city where the attack happened.”
It was after this second stabbing that passers-by were able to dramatically detain him.
In court, Ney claimed he wasn’t some kind of extremist and didn’t have negative feelings towards sex workers in particular.
However, he did admit to watching GoPro footage of the 2018 Christchurch mosque terrorist attack over 20 times.
“I was just really obsessed with it… I couldn’t keep my eyes off it,” he told the court.
He added that while he thought the Christchurch attack was “pretty terrible”, he doesn’t hate white supremacists, either.
“I have a friend in jail with a big swatty [swastika] on his leg,” he added.
The tragic murder of Dunn is yet another case of a woman being murdered in cold blood. Sex workers, in particular, face disproportionately high threats of violence and murder while on the job.
“Who would want to take the life of a gorgeous woman with the world at her feet?” Dunn’s mum told the court in an emotional tribute to her daughter.
“We have not just lost our daughter. But we have lost our future as it should have been.”
The hearing continues.
