In the Texan's hire car was a rubber face mask, surveillance notes, a cooler bag with food supplies, a Central Coast map and hotel receipts. The Texan told police a few hours later that he could not understand how things had gone "from bad to worse" when he had "only used the crossbow for protection". "I just told him, 'Hey stop. Just get on your knees' and he just charged at me with the f---ing laptop," the Texan said. He said he had taken the crossbow, arrows and a knife to the Central Coast house for protection. The garotte he had around his neck was just a necklace. Asked whether it was his usual practice to arrive at someone's house in another country unannounced, carrying a crossbow, picking up a tomahawk on the way and ordering someone to his knees, the Texan told police, "I told you I wanted it for protection and look what happened. We ended up in a fight.

"I'm supposed to fly out on Friday. I guess there's no chance of that happening?" Brisbane Water detectives said it did not appear likely. He was denied bail. The Texan was found guilty on Monday of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after a Gosford District Court jury decided he had not intended to murder his ex-wife's husband. The court heard the Texan and his wife divorced in August 2009 when their child was about four. The ex-wife and the Central Coast man began an online relationship on a dating website, spent a week together in Texas in September 2009, and married in April 2010. Two days after moving to Australia with her new husband, the ex-wife sent him a text message to say she was married and "letting him know we had brought [the child] to Australia".

Court action in the US established custody arrangements. The Texan was allowed to Skype his child on Saturday and Sunday, travelled to Australia three times to see the child, and his ex-wife and their child travelled to the US at least once for a visit. The court heard the Texan became agitated when his ex-wife's husband objected to the Texan talking to the child about custody matters, which were "adult stuff". He flew to Australia in July 2014 unannounced. He told police he carried a crossbow and knife in his luggage and a wire garotte, used to strangle or hang a person, in his shaving kit. He said he did not know the items were illegal, did not declare them and was not stopped at customs. Asked by police why he brought a "very dangerous weapon" such as a garotte to Australia, where it was "just sitting around your neck", the Texan said it was a cultural thing. "To me it's a tool or necklace, but to you it's a weapon," he said.

He said he wanted to spend time with his child but "it just turned out horrible". Taking the crossbow was protection and "it was an intimidation thing". The Texan denied firing a bolt from the crossbow, but told police, "I think I ended up throwing the freaking thing at him." The court heard the husband's laptop carried an indentation consistent with a bolt striking it, but the jury found the Texan not guilty of firing the crossbow with intent to murder. The Australian man recalled looking sideways towards bushes while carrying a laptop down steps from his house on the day of the attack and said, "I'm basically looking straight down the sights [of a crossbow]. "The weapon was aimed continuously at me and I put the laptop up as a defence," he said.

The two men were in "struggle mode" within seconds after the Australian was hit on the head by the tomahawk "I remember seeing my blood just pouring out and going over his face and jacket and clothes," the victim said. The fight ended with the Texan in a ditch after his ex-wife, a neighbour and a tradesman responded to the victim's yells. The victim told police he yelled at the Texan: "You're a f---ing idiot. You're going to jail." The Texan was refused bail and will be sentenced in May.