Police probe alleged intruder death after dog attack at Sydney rural property
A 23-year-old man has died after a suspected dog attack at a rural property in Sydney’s south-west, where police are now investigating whether he was
A 23-year-old man has died after a suspected dog attack at a rural property in Sydney’s south-west, where police are now investigating whether he was an intruder. The case has left detectives piecing together how he came to be on the Eschol Park site, near Campbelltown.
Police were called to the Mount Universe property on Wednesday after the owners found the man with serious injuries in a paddock. Emergency crews arrived and found his body. By then, the injuries were so severe that officers believed multiple guard dogs may have mauled him.
Dogs seized from the property
Council rangers spent Friday morning tranquillising eight Belgian shepherds at the rural residence before removing them from the property. It was a tense scene. One person was bitten while helping the rangers, police said.
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said the circumstances were terrible and that the dead man did not appear to live at the address. “We don’t know the circumstances by which that male was on the premises,” he said.
“He certainly doesn’t appear to be a resident of that location.”
Key line of inquiry
Detectives have seized a vehicle, along with gloves and a balaclava linked to the victim. Police have not said what role, if any, those items may have played. That remains under investigation.
Lanyon said whether the man was an intruder is a very key line of inquiry. The body was found on Badgally Road at Eschol Park, and police said initial inquiries indicate the man may have been attacked by animals before he died.
It is not yet clear how long he may have been on the property before he was discovered. Officers said he could have been there for a day.
What happens next
For now, investigators are focusing on why the man was there at all and how he entered the property. The seized dogs have been removed, the evidence has been taken, and detectives are left with one hard fact: the victim was 23.
