‘I was threatened with death’: Man with axe traumatises woman in Nambour park

Nambour Police Station

By Cameron Outridge

Nambour resident Deborah Burgin says she has been left shaken and fearful after being threatened by an axe-wielding man while walking her dogs. And she believes the community is not doing enough to keep women safe in public spaces.

The 65-year-old said the incident happened around 8am on a Sunday morning at Nambour off leash dog park at Quota Memorial Park.

“Two months ago I was threatened with death by a man wielding an axe,” Ms Burgin said on social media. “He was semi-naked, had a hunting axe with a pig on one side and the blade on the other. He was less than three feet away from me and lunging, saying, ‘I need to kill somebody and you’re going to be the one’.”

Ms Burgin told the Gazette she was terrified and ran with her two small dogs to Nambour Police Station, when no-one around her in the park would help, probably out of fear of her assailant.

“I literally ran nearly a kilometre. I had wet myself. I was hot and sweaty, I was in tears,” she said. “And all I got told was, ‘we can’t do anything because we’re traffic police’. They offered me a lift home! No one asked me what this person looked like, what he was wearing. Nothing. There was no follow-up.” 

She said the experience left her feeling dismissed. Weeks later, the same man was seen running through town with the axe, smashing cars. “The police were onto this straight away, weren’t they? But me, as a woman on my own – no interest was taken. Nothing. It shows a car is worth more than a human being.”

Ms Burgin said she had overcome adversity before and was very resilient, but the incident has left her fearful. “I can’t even walk through that park at the moment. I tried, but I just cannot do it. If someone is walking behind me, I move out of the way until they’ve gone past. It’s triggered everything again. My confidence has taken a beating.”

She said she is trying to face her fear in small steps. “I walked as far as the rubbish bins and saw a couple of people living in tents and I just turned around. But that was a start. My next goal is to walk right around the park with the dogs.”

Ms Burgin said her biggest concern is that families, seniors and women are being forced to share public spaces with people in crisis. “You’ve got mums with prams, pensioners walking their dogs, and then you’ve got people battling serious addiction and untreated mental illness all in the same parks. That mix is dangerous. We can’t just keep ignoring it.”

She knows what it is like to struggle. After a marriage breakdown she was homeless for six months, living in her car while still working. “I kept myself going,” she said.

She has also spent years helping those doing it tough. “I’ve fed the homeless, I’ve bought food, I’ve shared coffee, I’ve taken down clothing. I cooked soup and took it to where they were living. I know many are doing the best they can with the tools they’ve got.”

But she said compassion cannot replace safety. “I’m not against homeless people. They are human beings. They are doing the best they can. But people should not be left exposed to unpredictable and violent behaviour. Women deserve respect and protection. We need to step up as a community. Right now, it feels like women don’t count — and I’ve had enough.”

• ‘I was assaulted by a street woman’: See Letters to the Editor Page 20.