'Blood everywhere': Wallabies great opens up on horror home invasion
Wallabies great Toutai Kefu has spoken out about a horror home invasion in August in which he and his wife were stabbed.
The 47-year-old was rushed to hospital after being stabbed at his house in Brisbane in an alleged attack by four youths armed with knives, an axe and a machete.
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His wife, son and daughter were also hurt in the horrific ordeal.
“There was blood everywhere at this stage, it was unbelievable. The police that came in could not believe the crime scene,” Kefu told the Please Explain podcast this week.
The former Wallabies star, who played 60 Tests for Australia, revealed he jumped down from the second floor of his house to the first and entered via the back when he heard a scream from his wife.
“She’s gone downstairs confronted by these two young kids, so she screams and then starts yelling at them," he said.
"I’ve heard the scream and I’ve got up, ran out of our bed, I’ve actually jumped over the balcony from the second floor down to the first floor, where the front door is ... I broke two bones in my foot, I didn’t find out until later in the week.
“I’ve landed, I’ve run in and seen them and my wife was just back-pedalling. I’ve jumped in between my wife and [the two young kids]. One had a sickle, a kind of a bent machete, and the other guy had a little knife.
"We walked back past the front door, we said ‘There’s the front door, cut your losses boys, go’. They were young kids, I was shocked to see how young they were.
“The bigger kids kept lunging at us and we kept ducking away. He lunged and got Rach on her arm.
"I had a knife, I put the knife down and I’ve grabbed a stool and basically charged them and then we wrestled. My son (Joshua) has come down, we wrestled with one each.”
Kefu said he and his family have been struggling to sleep ever since the ordeal.
The current Tonga coach said he couldn't bring himself to use the knife given how young the attackers were.
“They’re kids,” he said. “They were both 15, there was a 13-year-old in the car. I’ve got a 15-year-old and I’ve got a 13-year-old at home at the moment.
"When I put the knife down I thought ‘I can’t possibly stab these kids, I can’t do that’. They were so small, I thought, ‘Well look at me and Josh, we could overrun these guys’. We didn’t think we’d get that cut up.
“But no one died, we’re still alive. Those kids ... They’ve been brought up differently ... I feel sorry for them.
"They’re not going to have the same life my kids are going to have. We should pray for them.”
Four teenagers charged after attack on Toutai Kefu
Four suspects aged between 13 and 15 have since been charged with a raft of offences, including attempted murder.
But rather than animosity, Kefu said he felt sorry for them.
"When I actually came downstairs, I could see how young they were. I was shocked," he said after being released from hospital.
"I don't hate them - I've got a 15-year-old. I feel sorry for them."
Kefu's wife Rachel is still recovering and waiting to see whether she will regain full use of her arm.
"At one stage, I think the doctor said to her if the blade was sharper it would have cut her whole arm off - but the bone actually stopped the blade," he said.
"So it was really graphic and she's a trooper, Rach."
Kefu was born in Tonga but played 60 times for the Wallabies and won the 1999 Rugby World Cup before taking over with the Pacific Islanders five years ago.
with AFP
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