A Dublin-born GP has described the terrifying moment he tackled an axe-wielding attacker who was assaulting his colleague in Perth, Australia, saying the ordeal unfolded in his mind in “very slow” motion.
Dr Fergus McCabe was honoured for stepping in during the attack on his colleague in September 2023. The Australian Governor General, Sam Mostyn, has since recognised him for the act of bravery.
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Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with David McCullagh, Dr McCabe recalled that he had been upstairs in his apartment, finishing with one patient and preparing to see another.
“Initially you don’t think that somebody is attacking somebody. My mind went to, first, was that one of my colleagues needed help dealing with a distressed patient,” he said.
He left his room and began heading downstairs to help, but quickly “realised that it was something much worse”.
“I recognised the voice, I recognised the terror in the scream, so I started to run,” he said.
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Dr McCabe stressed that he was not the only person to respond, saying everyone involved reacted “properly”.
As he ran down the stairs, an 18-year-old receptionist was also moving towards the scene to help.
“I had to tell her to go back,” he said.
By then, the receptionist downstairs had succeeded in getting everyone out, leaving the clinic empty.
She also worked part-time answering 999 calls and knew the code for an armed attack, meaning “he got a rapid response really quickly”.
According to Dr McCabe, the attacker had stalked his colleague, a female doctor named Anna, over a number of years.
The man entered the clinic’s main building carrying a metre-long tree-felling axe before searching the reception area for Anna’s name on the doors, Dr McCabe said.
He then entered Anna’s consulting room and “struck her viciously” with the axe, he recalled.
When Dr McCabe reached the room, the door was open. Inside, he saw the attacker holding the axe, his colleague Anna and a patient.
“I came in, charging in, a pregnant woman was grappling with him and bravely fighting with him to protect Anna.
“Anna was lying on the ground, bleeding and in distress but also fiercely fighting with her feet to protect herself from him and he was going at her again with the axe.
“Luckily … it was our smallest room … I was able to grab the axe, pull the patient out and scream ‘go’… and throw him across the room and stand between him and Anna,” he said.
He said trauma causes everything to move “very slow” for him and that, during the incident, he was operating on autopilot.
He recalled: “I’m covered in blood, I must have been grappling with him, but I don’t remember it …”
Once the attacker had been pushed back, Dr McCabe said his immediate priority was getting Anna out of the room and securing medical help for her.
Police arrived soon afterwards and “courageously” restrained the attacker before “taking control of the scene”.
Anna suffered blunt force trauma and required surgery for the injuries she sustained.
