Michaela Dunn (pictured) was stabbed repeatedly by Mert Ney on August 13, 2019
A knifeman who stabbed a woman to death in a hotel room has been led from court in an orange prison jumpsuit after giving graphic evidence of his heinous crime.
Mert Ney has pleaded guilty to murdering Michaela Dunn in her Clarence Street apartment on August 13, 2019.
Michaela Dunn’s mother left the courtroom before Mey continued to describe what happened, after he warned his barrister Belinda Rigg SC it was ‘too graphic’ and ‘pretty violent’.
The 23-year-old told his NSW Supreme Court sentence hearing he had wanted to stop the sex worker screaming.
‘Just to make her be silent,’ he said on Tuesday.
‘I stabbed her everywhere – face, hands, arms, chest, leg.’
Ney was led away from court wearing an oversized orange prison jumpsuit with his hands shackled to a waist band attached to cuffs.
Since his time in custody, the knifeman has gotten ‘G59’ tattooed to the right side of his face in front of his ear.
Ney was led away from court wearing an oversized orange prison jumpsuit with his hands shackled to a waist band attached to cuffs
Since his time in custody, the knifeman has gotten ‘G59’ tattooed to the right side of his face, in front of his ear
G59 is the name of an record label which manages American hip hop duo Suicideboys. It’s not known whether the label was Ney’s intended reference for his tattoo.
Ney has pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Dunn, 24, in her Clarence Street apartment in August 2019.
He has also admitted other violent offences including wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm for stabbing Lin Bo on the street during his CBD rampage.
When Ms Rigg asked him how he now felt about the murder, Ney said he had destroyed lives for no reason.
‘It was all pointless and selfish,’ he said.
Ney said he had reached ‘the point of no return’ after there were 20 or 30 stab wounds in her neck.
‘She was going to die, no question about it.’
Michaela Dunn’s mother (left) left the courtroom just as Ney started to describe what happened when he pulled out a knife and used it to kill the 24-year-old sex worker
Joanne Dunn, the mother of Michaela Dunn leaves during a recess at the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney, Tuesday, March 30
He said he was then fully committed to his ‘final chapter’ of being killed by police.
Ney summarised his history of mental health issues, addictions and his desire to die at the hands of police.
He had repeatedly watched footage of the Christchurch massacre, and other terrorist and mass shootings.
One reason was to understand his mother being distant due to trauma and torture she experienced in a civil war.
But another was a ‘real bad obsession to watch really bad acts’.
He said he never agreed with the perpetrators or the message they said they were trying to get across.
He disagreed with a psychiatrist’s suggestion that he may have been motivated to kill Ms Dunn as retribution for Muslims who were murdered in Christchurch.
The shooter’s manifesto ‘didn’t make sense’ and was pretty much a joke.
He denied a suggestion by prosecutor Craig Everson that he was motivated by religious extremism.
‘I’m not even sure why I did it, it’s speculation,’ he said.
Ney said he only yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’ on the street and delivered the Islamic State salute so that the police would shoot him.
He had gone to a mosque in the lead-up to his offending to get help with his addictions which he said included gambling, seeing prostitutes, taking tablets and watching pornography excessively.
Ney has pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Dunn in her Clarence Street apartment on August 13, 2019
Mr Everson submitted Ney should be sentenced to life behind bars, despite his young age, guilty plea and mental health issues.
Although there was no evidence of him being linked to terrorist groups or ideologies, he was involved in his ‘own violent jihad’ which was in his mind when he conducted himself the way he did.
But Ms Rigg referred to her client’s evidence indicating he had been in a deeply disordered state and panicked when Ms Dunn started screaming.
She noted the absence of any evidence of his being motivated by religious extremism and his repeated statements to police to shoot him.
Justice Peter Johnson will sentence him on May 14.
