The Sydney Morning Herald logo
Advertisement

This was published 4 months ago

The north shore kitchen where a love triangle ended in terror

Clare Sibthorpe

A 24-year-old man has avoided jail for stabbing his ex-girlfriend’s on-and-off again partner inside the woman’s north shore home in a traumatic end to a fractious years-long love triangle.

Connor Hearn was recently sentenced to an intensive correction order (ICO) over the 2024 attack on 34-year-old Oscar Tatham inside his former partner Kyra Greer’s Roseville apartment.

The Roseville home where Connor Hearn stabbed his ex-girlfriend’s on-and-off partner.

According to agreed facts tendered to Campbelltown District Court, Greer, 26, had relationships with both men over several years and had broken up with Hearn earlier that year and rekindled contact with Tatham.

Tensions gradually built between the men before the attack. At one point, a brick was thrown through Tatham’s car windscreen. Greer blamed this on Hearn, but Hearn denied responsibility.

Advertisement

Their romantic entanglement ended in the violent confrontation on the evening of July 8, 2024, when Greer and Tatham found the flyscreens had been taken off the kitchen windows and Hearn sitting in the bedroom, seemingly chopping up cannabis. Greer had recently allowed Hearn to stay at the property because he said he had nowhere else to stay, the documents state, but was surprised he was still there when they arrived home to her unit.

“[Hearn] jumped off the bed and [Greer] started yelling words to the effect of: ‘What are you doing here? Get out! You know I don’t want you here’,” the court documents state, adding Hearn said he still had nowhere else to stay.

Tatham then got involved, saying words to the effect of: “Well you’re not seeing this girl anymore – what the f---’s your problem?”

He continued: “You’re a weirdo, you’re a stalker; what are you doing here ... Listen, you better get up cause I’m ready to start having a swag and it’s going to be on in like the next 10 seconds like Donkey Kong.”

The stand-off evolved into a dispute over money, in which Tatham and Greer stood in the doorway blocking Hearn’s exit.

Advertisement

“An altercation between [Tatham] and [Hearn] started and [Hearn] grabbed a knife (with an approximately 20-centimetre blade) from the kitchen counter and lunged towards [Tatham] with the knife raised,” the facts say.

Kyra Greer and Oscar Tatham found the flyscreens had been taken off the kitchen windows and Hearn sitting in the bedroom.

“[Tatham] ducked his head, and the offender stabbed the knife into the upper right-hand side of the victim’s back.”

Photos released by the court but not authorised to be published showed what appeared to be a deep gash to Tatham’s back, not far from his neck.

During an earlier court appearance in which Hearn unsuccessfully applied for bail, the court heard Tatham “thought he was going to die from the injury” but managed to drive himself to Royal North Shore Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Advertisement

At the time, police said they arrested Hearn in North Manly shortly after the stabbing as he walked the streets covered in blood.

Hearn was initially charged with wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, facing a maximum 25-year jail term.

He ultimately pleaded guilty to a lower charge of wounding while reckless of causing actual bodily harm and was sentenced to a 10-month supervised intensive corrections order (ICO) with conditions including 100 hours of community service work and rehabilitation treatment.

Meanwhile, court records show Greer was sentenced last month to 12 months in prison with a six-month non-parole period for domestic violence common assault and destroying property, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two counts of common assault. She will be released on parole in April next year and has signalled an intention to appeal.

There is no suggestion Greer’s offences relate to Hearn’s conviction.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.

Clare SibthorpeClare Sibthorpe is a crime reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.

From our partners

Advertisement
Advertisement