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Torrington: For much of his adult life, Joshua Dylan Trethewey minded his own business and rarely mixed with people outside his family and colleagues. During lunch, the 34-year-old ate alone, preferring his own company to that of his workmates. In his spare time, Trethewey would drive the back roads of NSW’s Northern Tablelands, passing through the villages and settlements around his hometown of Deepwater.
On Wednesday night, though, something seemed to change in Trethewey. He allegedly drove a familiar route along Torrington Road to the home of Keith and Diane Blessing, about 25 kilometres north-west of Deepwater. The Blessings, a couple enjoying their golden years on a sprawling bush block surrounded by native scrubland and wildlife, had had few, if any, interactions with Trethewey until that night. As far as anyone can tell, Trethewey and the Blessings were strangers to one another.
Police say that just after midnight, Trethewey parked his car at the end of the Blessings’ driveway, next to a swagman sculpture and a letterbox where Di Blessing often left excess fruit from their prosperous apple and pear trees for neighbours and passersby, and walked towards their home. There, he allegedly forced his way into the home and attacked the couple, stabbing Di, 72, in the chest, and slashing Keith, 75, across the stomach.
Despite his injuries, Keith Blessing confronted his attacker with a knife, forcing him from the home. As local police and paramedics rushed to the isolated property, Keith, a licensed gun owner, armed himself with a long-arm rifle as he called Triple Zero. When Trethewey allegedly entered the home moments later as authorities listened on the phone, Keith Blessing shot him in the stomach.
Why Trethewey would go to the Blessing’s property – “Trukemup” – remains unclear to police, their family and a community gripped in anger and fear as it searches for answers that have been thrust abruptly into their idyllic lives.
In Torrington, where most people are friendly with one another, the Blessings are particularly liked. On Friday, news of Di Blessing’s improved condition was met with applause from the dozens of locals gathered at the Torrington Memorial Hall. Such is the couple’s love for the environment, they have offered up part of their property under a Wildlife Refuge Agreement with the state government. Occasionally, locals say, they would nurse sick or injured animals back to health. “This is the worst thing that’s ever happened here,” says Sonia Law, who has lived in Torrington her entire life.
Ordinarily a place for Christmas and Easter celebrations filled with cheer, the wood-panelled hall was instead thick with grief, anger and unanswered questions. Among locals’ concerns, the possible repercussions Keith Blessing – who remains in a critical but stable condition – could face for shooting an intruder.
For locals imagining themselves in the Blessings’ position, the incident has raised an uncomfortable hypothetical: faced with trouble, can they defend their homes? Almost all say they would, if they could, do exactly what Keith Blessing did. They believe it is their right as landowners.
“If he’s charged, you’re going to get a lot of noise from this community,” says Barry McWhinney, who has lived in Torrington since 1989. Tenterfield Shire Council Mayor Bronwyn Petrie says charges against Keith Blessing would trigger community-wide protests.
Julie Johnson, an organiser of Friday’s meeting says: “If he’s charged, they’re going to have to come and get all of us.”
At the heart of the fear gripping Torrington is the unanswered question of why Trethewey allegedly targeted the Blessings. Investigators are yet to interview Trethewey, who was on Friday in an induced coma at Armidale Hospital awaiting surgery. He has been charged with attempting to murder the Blessings.
Such was his quiet life, few locals find themselves in a position to shed any light on Trethewey’s thinking on Wednesday, or what would have led him to the Blessings’ home. There is no visible trace of the 34-year-old online, and the home he lives in, tucked behind Deepwater’s main street, offers little insight into the life he has lived far from public attention.
Trethewey has maintained a home and worked as a boilermaker at his uncle’s engineering business, where he was regarded as a meticulous tradesman, if a little unproductive.
His uncle Reg Trethewey said the alleged attack on the couple is out of character and is not reflective of the “nice nephew” he knows better than most. “I think I was the only person he was close to,” he says.
In the days since the shooting, locals have struggled to reconcile the incident. In a place like Torrington – home to fewer than 100 people – violent crimes are not just rare. To residents, they are as likely to occur as being struck by lightning. In this part of the world, people don’t lock their doors. Such is their long-held sense of safety that many leave their car keys in the ignition.
After Thursday, locals say, that will change. Many at Friday’s meeting are considering installing security systems at their homes. Others are keeping the keys to their gun safes within arm’s reach.
Community safety has long been of concern to Petrie, who says many locals are fearful of an increase in crime. Since receiving an unrelated death threat 18 months ago, Petrie has taken to locking the doors of her Tenterfield home while she hangs the washing out. In that time, she says, community members have reported an uptick in break-ins and thefts. With local police stations underresourced, community angst has risen, she says.
While unanswered questions remain around an incident that has shaken Torrington to its core and the ramifications of it, there is little doubt about the path the community intends to take forward; locals are likely to launch a fundraiser to support the Blessings’ recovery.
“It has been comforting to know we have the support of the wider community,” one of the couple’s daughters, Kathy Blessing said outside Gold Coast University Hospital on Friday. “This has been deeply traumatising to our family, and no family should ever have to go through this.”
Despite the adversity, the community, they say, will band together as they navigate life in a place where much stays the same, but everything has now changed.
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