A young Fairy Meadow man faced a terrifying ordeal when a friend he had known for a decade attacked him with a machete inside his own home, leaving him with a severe wrist injury that required surgical repair.
Helmeted attacker arrives armed
The violent incident unfolded on the night of March 10, 2025. The victim, a man in his 20s, was at his Meadow Street home with his pregnant partner and a young child when he heard Leroy Black, 21, calling his name from outside. Black was a regular visitor, known to the victim for about ten years.
When the victim went outside to investigate, he was confronted by a shocking sight. Black was standing there wearing a motorcycle helmet and holding a machete. Without hesitation, Black struck the metal security door with the weapon.
When the stunned victim asked, "What the f--- is this over?" Black replied, "You know what this is over." He then began swinging the machete, forcing the victim to retreat backwards into the lounge room of the house.
Violent assault and frantic escape
As Black continued his attack inside the home, the victim raised his left arm in a desperate attempt to protect himself. The blade of the machete sliced deeply into his wrist, causing immediate and significant bleeding.
Black then fled the scene, hitting the security door again on his way out with such force that the mesh screen detached. A neighbour witnessed a helmeted man run up the driveway and jump onto the back of a waiting motorbike, which sped off towards Tarrawanna. Hearing screams from the victim's home, the neighbour promptly called triple-zero.
Inside, the victim realised the severity of his wound. "F---, I think I'm going to pass out," he said. His partner helped apply pressure and wrapped his wrist in a shirt before rushing him to Wollongong Hospital.
Damning evidence and threatening messages
In the aftermath of the attack, the victim's partner noticed a bag on the lounge room floor that she recognised as belonging to Black. At the hospital, they searched the bag and found identification documents confirming it was his.
The victim underwent surgery to clean the wound and repair the damage, which included reattaching nerves in his wrist.
In the early hours of the following morning, the victim's partner received a Facebook message from Black, which was later unsent, instructing her to take items to her sister—a request she understood to refer to the contents of the abandoned bag. She replied, "It's at the crimes [sic] scene where you left it."
Black sent another unsent message claiming he had tracked his phone to the hospital. The intimidation escalated the next night when he sent a text message reading: "You house is gunna be f---ing burnt soon [name] coz of yah slimey [sic] dog man." He was arrested less than two hours after sending this threat.
Court proceedings and pending sentence
Leroy Black appeared at Wollongong Local Court via videolink and pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated enter dwelling with intent to commit a serious indictable offence and reckless wounding. The court will also take into account additional offences of intimidation and damaging property during sentencing.
His case has been committed to the Wollongong District Court, where a judge will determine his sentence at a later date. The brutal attack has left a victim recovering from serious injuries and a community shaken by the violence inflicted by a supposed friend.
