Jonathan Mendelsohn
In Brisbane, Australia, 28-year-old Benjamin Jeremy Bourke has pleaded guilty to attempted murder after hunting a teenage girl through an Aldi in September 2020. Bourke has been sentenced to 10 years and six months behind bars for the crime.
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Reportedly, Bourke walked into the grocery store armed with a compound bow, two knives, and three sledgehammers. The man was allegedly planning on ending his own life on the day of the attack, and he wanted to take someone with him. Crown Prosecutor Matt Le Grand spoke about this fact in court, saying, “He decided to take a life, he just didn’t know which life he would take.”
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Before wandering into the Aldi, Bourke reportedly searched for other victims in the street. While donning a skull mask on his would-be murderous trek, Bourke shot his bow and arrow at a jogger, simply because of her race. Le Grand said, “His reason for (shooting at her) was that the woman was indigenous and he didn’t like indigenous (people).” Thankfully, the arrow missed the jogger. It was also reported that the perpetrator was close to attacking a mother and her young child but decided against that.
When Bourke spotted the unnamed teenage girl outside locking her bike, he realized that he had found his target. He apparently removed his mask and said “I’ll let you see who I am first,” before shooting his bow and arrow at the girl and missing. What played out next was horrific.
The girl ran into the Aldi for safety when Bourke followed her in and began “pursuing” the young teen with his bow and arrow. She was grazed in the right arm by one arrow outside, and in the following attack, was injured in her fingers and chest with arrows. After being shot in the torso with an arrow that was still lodged inside her, a customer protected the girl. When Bourke attempted to speak to the victim, he was tackled by customers and arrested shortly after. Bourke was allegedly asking his victim to return one of the arrows he shot at her. The entire ghastly scene was captured on CCTV.
At Bourke’s trial, Le Grand added, “She was hunted like an animal around the store for about four minutes. The offense is protracted, it was persistent and could have easily had other consequences and indeed that was Mr. Bourke’s intent. This was a premeditated and purposeful attack, the offending occurred in public. Therefore it’s not just an example of violence in public but violence deliberately in public.”
