Children found their father bleeding on the ground after a man in the grip of a psychotic episode tried to kill him at random by stabbing at him 10 times with a screw driver, a court has been told.
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He had suffered seven puncture wounds, mainly to his chest, and avoided a blow to the head because his bicycle helmet caught the Phillips head screw driver.
Joshua Joseph Tempany, 25, pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday to attempted murder and seriously assaulting police in relation to the attack.
The court was told the man had been on a morning bike ride with his family in Cooparoo in November 2016.
He told his wife and two children to ride ahead while he locked the door to their family home.
As he tried to catch up to his family and was crossing a bridge Tempany jumped up at him and put him in a headlock, prosecutor Matt Le Grand said.
The man fell to the ground in a struggle and Tempany stabbed him repeatedly.
Tempany fled from the scene but was later found and arrested by police.
"(His family) witnessed him bleeding on the ground a short while later. It would have been a traumatic experience for even adults and especially children," Mr Le Grand said.
As he was being taken to a cell inside the Dutton Park police station, Tempany grabbed at a detective's gun.
Mr Le Grand said a significant feature of the case was Tempany's mental illness.
He said Tempany was suffering a psychotic process linked to schizophrenia at the time of the attack.
The sentencing hearing has been adjourned to Tuesday.
Australian Associated Press