{"id":845721,"date":"2026-06-05T08:29:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T08:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/845721\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T08:29:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T08:29:26","slug":"family-of-couple-stabbed-in-suspected-home-invasion-traumatised-by-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/845721\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of couple stabbed in suspected home invasion traumatised by incident"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family of a couple who were stabbed during a suspected invasion of their home on a rural property say they are deeply traumatised by the incident.<\/p>\n

Keith Blessing, 75, and his wife 72-year-old Diane Blessing are recovering in a hospital on the Gold Coast after a man broke into their home in Torrington in northern NSW and allegedly stabbed them with a knife on Friday.<\/p>\n

The alleged intruder was then shot when he attempted to re-enter the home.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Kathy Blessing (right) speaks to the media alongside her sister Amanda Batchelor after their parents were stabbed during a suspected home invasion. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

The couple were transferred to Gold Coast University Hospital for treatment.<\/p>\n

Speaking outside the hospital on Friday, their daughter Kathy Blessing said it has been a traumatic ordeal.<\/p>\n

“We would like to thank everyone who has supported our family, it has been comforting to know we have the support of the wider community,” she said.<\/p>\n

“This has been deeply traumatising to our family and no family should ever have to go through this.<\/p>\n

“We’re very proud of our parents and their bravery.”<\/p>\n

Speaking alongside her sister Amanda Batchelor, Ms Blessing said their parents had a long recovery ahead of them.<\/p>\n

“They are recovering in the hospital here and getting excellent care,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We have a long road ahead.”<\/p>\n

Police said Mr Blessing remains in a critical but stable condition while Ms Blessing’s condition has significantly improved.<\/p>\n

Joshua Dylan Trethewey, 34, has been charged with two counts of wounding with intent to murder.<\/p>\n

Police say the resident of the nearby town of Deep Water is currently in an induced coma awaiting surgery.<\/p>\n

Motive unclear for ‘unthinkable’ tragedy\"People<\/p>\n

Residents of Torrington in the NSW Northern Tablelands hold a meeting to discuss safety after an elderly couple were stabbed inside their home. (ABC New England: Brigitte Murphy\u00a0)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile concerned members from the small village in the NSW Northern Tablelands gathered in the town hall to hear the update on police proceedings.<\/p>\n

Inspector James Parsons from the New England Police District told the residents investigators were still to establish a motive for the “rare and unthinkable” tragedy.<\/p>\n

“The only thing I can say to give you reassurance is that this is an extremely rare case,” Inspector Parsons said.<\/p>\n

“It is a fresh investigation. Motive is one of the big issues that that investigation will look at.<\/p>\n

“At this stage we are unaware why this attack has played out.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

NSW Police Inspector James Parsons speaks to concerned residents at a community meeting at the Torrington town hall.\u00a0 (ABC New England: Brigitte Murphy\u00a0)<\/p>\n

Sonia Law has lived in Torrington her whole life and said she has never seen anything like this.<\/p>\n

“[I’m] very stressed,” said the 53-year-old.<\/p>\n

“Especially when you don’t expect something to happen here, it’s scary, very scary.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Torrington resident Sonia Law said mobile reception in the town is an issue. (ABC New England: Brigitte Murphy)<\/p>\n

Community members shared their worries about how to stay safe, including concerns about their ability to call Triple Zero (000) in an emergency.<\/p>\n

Many worried about mobile reception at their homes which may prevent them from calling for help in an emergency.<\/p>\n

Ms Law said she only received word of the stabbing when she stood on a boulder on her property to get signal.<\/p>\n

“If it had of been us, we wouldn\u2019t have been able to call for help so I don\u2019t know what would have happened then,” Ms Law said.<\/p>\n

Policed informed the residents to lock their homes and gates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of a couple who were stabbed during a suspected invasion of their home on a rural…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":845722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,4219,345840,246,8337,50,8152,129144],"class_list":["post-845721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-australia","tag-crime","tag-di-and-keith-blessing","tag-family","tag-home-invasion","tag-news","tag-safety","tag-torrington"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116696564916534331","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}