Collie police have charged a 44-year-old man after he went on an alleged drug-fuelled rampage through town on Saturday.
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The trail of damage started at about 5am, near Amaroo Primary School before the man wandered onto Throssell Street in-front of traffic.
He went to the Gull Service Station, smashing walls and ripping out a bowser pump.
He then turned his attention to the neighbouring house, apparently looking for water – a common symptom of someone who has been using methamphetamine.
With a newborn baby in the family, early morning wake-ups are common for the Ryan family – but nothing would prepare them for what happened next.
Father Peter Ryan said he was woken by some loud banging.
“At first I thought it was a fuel truck – sometimes they come next-door in the early hours,” he said.
“Then I could hear someone’s voice outside and when I looked I saw a man standing on Throssell Street, completely naked.
“I thought ‘na, he couldn’t be’, but I rang the police anyway as he was standing in the middle of the road.”
"When I looked I saw a man standing on Throssell Street, completely naked."
- Peter Ryan
Mr Ryan didn’t realise the man had just finished destroying the service station.
“He wandered over back to the service station before jumping the fence into our backyard,” he said.
“I was still on the phones to the police and that’s when I realised the guy had an axe.”
The man proceeded to use the axe on the outside of the home as he tried to get inside.
“He heard us inside and I heard him say ‘What the f**k are you doing in my home,” Mr Ryan said.
“Fortunately he didn’t make it inside and he gave up and went through the front gate.
“He was courteous enough to close it as he left.”
As the man wandered back across the road, Mr Ryan jumped in his 4WD and watched from a distance.
“I watched him from the hill and had my hazard lights on to warn traffic,” Mr Ryan said.
When police arrived, they found the man sitting in a nearby creek – where after a brief struggle he was arrested.
The methamphetamine had made the man extremely hot and his rapid heartbeat meant police had to take him straight to Collie hospital.
The full extent of the damage wasn’t evident until later in the morning as the Ryan’s backyard had been trashed, gutters ripped of the wall and axe cuts along the side of the property.
Mr Ryan knows how close the family came to tragedy.
“If he had gotten in the house, this could've been a homicide case,” he said.
“Those people are unstoppable."
He wants mandatory sentencing for drug-related crime.
“A slap on the wrist won’t cut it,” he said.
“Look what this man has done to me and my family.
“Our police need funding to open 24/7 and the justice system needs to be locking these people up.
“If something isn’t done soon – it’s going to get worse,” he said.
The man has been released on bail and will face Collie court on September 9.
Originally published as Drug-fuelled naked axe-man out on bail | photos by Collie Mail.