Real estate agent charged after alleged samurai sword attack in Rozelle
Karl Adon Howard, a real estate agent, faces multiple charges after allegedly assaulting four people, including a samurai sword attack. He claims to have no memory of the incidents.
A real estate agent who avoided jail for a samurai sword attack has "no recollection of a significant portion" of a night where he allegedly assaulted four people, a court has been told.
Karl Adon Howard, 48, was arrested on Sunday after an alleged altercation at an apartment on Burt Street in Rozelle, in Sydney's inner west. Police allege he assaulted a 39-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman known to him inside the home in what has been reported to be a dispute about a love triangle.
The woman fled the unit but was allegedly attacked for a second time on the street, while the man collapsed unconscious outside the unit. NSW Ambulance crews treated the man for head wounds and the woman for facial injuries at the scene before being taken to hospital.
After a stand-off, police negotiated Howard's exit from the unit and he was arrested and taken to St Vincent's Hospital under police guard.
About 20 minutes before the confrontation at the unit, police allege Howard assaulted a 49-year-old woman in a store carpark on Parsons St in Rozelle. The real estate agent allegedly approached the woman and demanded her car keys before assaulting her.
A bystander rushed to her assistance and followed Howard down the street, where he was also allegedly attacked. Howard has been charged with 14 offences, including assault with intent to take a motor vehicle, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and supplying less than an indictable amount of a prohibited drug.
He was beamed into Sydney Downing Centre Local Court via audiovisual link on Tuesday from his hospital bed. The real estate agent, who was lying down and clad in a hospital gown, raised his hand as his lawyer John Sutton panned the camera to show his face.
Mr Sutton said the police allegations against his client discussed a "psychosis episode" related to the allegations that would need to be reviewed before the matter could progress.
"There are some psychological issues," Mr Sutton said. "He has no recollection of a significant portion of that matter."
Magistrate Greg Grogin noted Howard might have been suffering from a psychotic episode at the time of the alleged offences and asked for the police officers' body-worn camera footage to be handed over to the defence.
"I wish your client a speedy recovery. I don't know what's happened or what's the matter, but I don't like seeing people in hospital," Mr Grogin said.
Howard is serving an intensive corrections order for assaulting two women, one of whom he struck with a samurai sword, during a drug-fuelled rampage in 2021. He was sentenced to an intensive corrections order for two years and three months that will expire early next year. The real estate agent was also ordered to abstain from drugs and alcohol and to complete 250 hours of community service.
