CCTV allegedly filmed 'Doggie' chasing man across car park after machete attack

Security cameras allegedly filmed a man nicknamed ‘Doggie’ chasing another person across a southern Canberra car park after attacking him with a machete in an attempted robbery.

The judge-alone trial of 37-year-old Aaron Kenneth Campbell started in the ACT Supreme Court earlier this week.

It is alleged the complainant received a call from a mobile number he didn’t recognise in the early hours of 11 February 2022 and made plans with the caller, who called themselves ‘Chris’, to meet at the Pit Stop Carwash in Calwell after ‘Chris’ asked him for “stuff”.

Closed-circuit television footage (CCTV) captured two cars arriving at around 4:38 am before a man, wearing shorts and a cap, walked up to the complainant’s vehicle and smashed a window.

The complainant was filmed quickly reversing while the man ran after his car. The court heard he crashed his car into a pillar, then was allegedly hit in the head and finger with a machete.

Another camera filmed the man chasing the complainant across a car park while carrying what looked like a large knife before losing him and running back to the car wash.

The complainant had “a big gash” on his head while his car looked “pretty banged up” and blood drops were “everywhere” around his vehicle, a police officer who arrived at the scene told the court on Thursday (12 October).

Campbell had been in a police station on 21 May 2022 when he was told he’d be placed under arrest in relation to an alleged robbery.

“I’ve done nothing wrong,” he said at one stage in body-worn camera footage played to the court.

He said he’d injured his back recently, remarking, “f-ing electric scooters, they’re dangerous”. Then police gave him time to finish the noodles he had been eating before arresting him.

“Smash ’em down, smash ’em down,” a police officer told him.

He was handcuffed and led further into the police station, telling the officers, “I’ve done this a million times”.

Under cross-examination, the police officer who arrested Campbell said he couldn’t remember who told him to arrest him, but that he’d also formed his own suspicions.

The complainant told police he’d gone to the car wash that night because he was “curious”, he agreed while under cross-examination by Campbell’s barrister Katrina Musgrove.

She questioned if that was the truth and that he wasn’t going there for a drug deal.

“Yes, I have a lot of friends by the name of Chris as well,” he said.

Ms Musgrove said he’d also told police he’d been at the car wash to wash his car.

“I frequented the car wash a lot of times to wash my car,” he said.

He also said, “I was a bit all over the place. I’d just been attacked with a machete”.

The complainant had a tyre iron in the front of his car but denied pulling it out to threaten the alleged attempted robber. He said it had been clipped under a seat, but Ms Musgrove told him a photo showed it was clearly not.

“Well, I did crash,” he said.

He did admit the fact he hadn’t slept for two days, had taken amphetamines and was on medications could have had an impact on his “thinking” that night.

Ms Musgrove also suggested he’d never met her client “face-to-face” before the alleged incident.

“Of course I have,” he replied.

He claimed he knew Campbell from jail, saying he knew him as ‘Doggie’ from Queanbeyan and didn’t accept a suggestion that he hadn’t gotten a good look at the face of his alleged attacker.

The complainant admitted he tested positive for COVID-19 when he was taken to hospital after the alleged attack and was involuntarily kept until the end of the month for mental health treatment.

He denied a psychological treatment order had been made around that time because he had a potential diagnosis of schizophrenia, saying he wasn’t diagnosed with that disorder until this year.

Campbell has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted robbery, assault and damaging property.

The trial continues before Justice Louise Taylor.