Stabbed for being a Muslim in love with a Christian: Court hears family members attacked young woman at Sefton Plaza

A young Muslim woman was stabbed in a shopping centre carpark by family members opposed to her relationship for religious and cultural reasons, a court has heard.

A woman stabbed in a shopping centre carpark during an alleged domestic dispute believed she was “slowly dying” and that her family was trying to kill her, a court has heard.

The victim’s father, 56, brother, 30, and a third man, 28, all from Blair Athol and whose identities are suppressed, appeared in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

The trio is charged with one count each of attempted murder and unlawful detention over what police described as a “violent disturbance” at Sefton Plaza on Main North Rd, Sefton Park, just before 8am on Tuesday.

Police prosecutor Senior Sergeant Grant Watterson told the court the 28-year-old man was contacted by the family to “help get the daughter back” and was present during the incident.

The court heard the victim, a Muslim from Afghanistan, had been in a relationship for about a year with a Christian from Sri Lanka with whom she had been living since Sunday.

Sergeant Watterson said the woman was dropped off at the shopping centre on Tuesday to meet her mother.

However, he said the victim’s mother, sister, father and brother attended the scene in a bid to “abduct and take their daughter back and during that process she’s been stabbed”.

“The allegations are extremely serious and complex. The whole family disapproves of the relationship due to cultural and religious issues,” Sergeant Watterson said.

The court heard the woman was talking to her mother when her sister appeared and grabbed her with both hands.

Sergeant Watterson said the victim then saw her father and brother approach her from the side and she was encouraged to return home.

He said the woman panicked and attempted to push the mother and sister away, saying: “Stop, don’t come near me, I don’t want to go”.

The court heard the victim saw a kitchen knife she estimated to be about 15cm long but could not recall who had possession of it.

Sergeant Watterson said that, after a commotion, the woman was stabbed twice – the most serious to her side, describing it as “very deep and bleeding a lot”.

A man being arrested after a woman was stabbed and forced into a car at Sefton Plaza car park. Picture: 9News

He said the victim was placed in the back seat of the family’s Holden Cruz and driven to the their Blair Athol home, where she was placed under running water in the shower.

The court heard a cloth was placed on the woman’s stomach but the “bleeding was out of control”. “She knew she was in trouble and slowly dying,” Sergeant Watterson said.

“She believed that her family were trying to kill her … her family will not stop trying to kill her.”

Sergeant Watterson said the victim was taken by ambulance to the Royal Adelaide Hospital with “with minutes to spare” and remained in a critical but stable condition.

He said the woman sustained “significant” internal wounds and bleeding which required surgery.

Magistrate Jayanthi McGrath remanded the trio in custody to face court again in March.

Police revealed on Wednesday that they had arrested two Blair Athol women, aged 55 and 28, and charged them with one count each of attempted murder and unlawful detention.

The pair was refused police bail and will appear in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday.