Man charged after alleged axe attack kills friend at NSW campground

A man has been charged with murder after an alleged axe attack at a New South Wales campground. Emergency services were called to Thora, 10km north-west of Bellingen, just after midnight on Monday and found a 33-year-old man who had died from critical head injuries.

The victim’s friend, a 25-year-old woman, told police he had been struck in the head with an axe a few hours earlier while they were camping at Little Styx River at Ebor near Armidale. She alleged she had been assaulted as well and drove the man from the remote campground to Thora to seek help before he died; she was treated for bruising to her neck.

Police arrested a 26-year-old man near Ebor before midday on Monday. He was taken to Armidale police station and has been charged with murder, intentionally choking a person with recklessness and assault occasioning actual bodily harm; he was refused bail to appear in court on Tuesday morning.

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