Ridgewood park stabbing: Tawanaayasha Nyasha Mudzengi pleads not guilty to attempted murder

A young man accused of a brutal stabbing that took place at a Ridgewood park following a day of drinking will fight the charge against him. Tawanaayasha Nyasha Mudzengi appeared in Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court on Wednesday, charged with trying to kill a 27-year-old man after the pair became involved in a fight. During the brief hearing, the 21-year-old only spoke to confirm his name and to enter his not-guilty plea. It is understood the 27-year-old alleged victim had been socialising with a group of friends at the reserve on Ardglass Avenue on January 21 when an altercation broke out about 10.30pm. It is not known what prompted the fight, but residents told The West Australian a day after the incident the park was a hive of antisocial behaviour at weekends. They also said they were shocked to learn a man had been stabbed. One woman, who did not wish to be named, said she was chatting with her neighbours at the back of her property when she heard a loud banging at her front door. She said at first she thought it was her neighbours’ children, but when she got closer, she saw a woman in her early 20s in hysterics. “She was crying, saying her friend had been stabbed, and asked for help,” she said. The woman said her neighbours then came to the door, called an ambulance, and went outside to help. While she never went outside, the woman said her neighbours told her the young man who had been stabbed was in a bad way. Mr Mudzengi is expected to appear in court again in January.