Carron Wickens tells court of vicious and nearly fatal attack by her former husband George Alexander Freeman
A woman nearly killed by her then-husband in a horrific knife attack has read a powerful impact statement – describing her torment and issuing a plea to other violent men.
An attempted murder victim has bravely described the moments her then husband — a former butcher — sliced her to near death in a premeditated and unprovoked attack with a 30cm knife he bought from The Reject Shop.
Carron Wickens, 57, told the Supreme Court it was important she found the strength to personally read her statement.
She told how she was “taken by surprise” in December 2017 when her then husband of seven years, George Alexander Freeman, 61, rushed into her bedroom, closed the door and blocked her exit while holding a “long gleaming sharp-looking knife in hand” which he bought five days earlier for $6.
“Without any words spoken and with focused intent, you stabbed me multiple times,” she said.
“I tried to protect myself from the knife with my right arm and hand.
“After the last blow to my lung I believed I was going to die, gave up defending myself and told you I loved you and always had.
“As I was crumbling to the floor I begged you to call an ambulance.
“At no stage did you try to stop my bleeding, instead you threw clothing from the washbasket on me and callously slapped the knife in and out of my right hand.
“You showed no remorse or compassion and left me to die.”
Instead, she said Freeman called her 83-year-old father to tell him he had killed Ms Wickens before calling an ambulance.
“In and out of consciousness I woke to the sound of police and begged for help.”
In the weeks before the attack the couple separated but were still living together after Ms Wickens became fed up with Freeman’s “lies and behaviours” which included isolating her from friends and family and discovered he had been cheating. The couple have since divorced.
Experts warn the time when a woman tries to leave an abusive relationship is often the most risky.
An emotional Ms Wickens described the horrific attack in detail, including how Freeman repeatedly “sliced” and “plunged” the knife into her body, arms and hands leaving her with multiple injuries.
She suffered stab wounds to multiple parts of her body including her lung and spine which required surgery.
She suffered nerve damage, has restricted movement in her hands and arms, and has lost the ability to feel the temperature of the shower, or to work as a nurse.
Her psychological injuries include post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Every day my scars, which are still healing, are a horrific reminder of what you did to me,” she said.
“I do not experience the same simple pleasures in life as I relive the attack daily.”
Despite her sickening ordeal, Ms Wickens told Freeman she forgave him, but would never forget what he had done.
“I trust the legal system will sentence you appropriately to ensure other men like think twice before causing harm to anyone,” she said.
Prosecutor Kelly Smith said the attack was a “protracted plot … to murder his wife” and Freeman had shown no remorse.
“This was an unprovoked, premeditated, vicious and cowardly attack in the victim’s own home where she had a right to feel safe and secure — motivated, we submit, by the accused’s festering anger that his wife no longer wanted to be in a marital relationship with him”.
“He harboured a great deal of anger and hatred toward his wife given that she had informed him that she was ending their relationship,” she said.
She said Freeman’s planning of the attack included waiting for Ms Wickens’ adult son, who lived with the couple, to leave for work before ambushing her.
She said the purchase of the knife five days before the attack was evidence of premeditation.
The court heard Freeman was a former butcher who retrained and was working as a mental health nurse at the time of the attack.
“As a nurse the accused had the skills to render assistance to his wife. He did not. Instead he left her bleeding on the floor,” she said.
“While she lay dying on the floor, he bent down and dragged the knife through her outstretched hand in various ways, whilst she lay helpless watching,” she said.
“He acted without any semblance of normal human emotion.”
Ms Smith said while there had not been a history of violence in the relationship, Freeman had been “controlling”.
“Domestic violence of the nature perpetrated by the accused cannot be tolerated in our community.”
Andy Ey, for Freeman, said his client did not have an exact memory of the incident but was “truly remorseful” and had written an apology letter to Ms Wickens.
He denied the attack was premeditated and said Freeman bought the knife for an upcoming fishing trip.
He asked the court impose a lenient non-parole period because he suffers from Parkinson’s disease which caused Freeman, who has been in custody since his 2017 arrest, “hardship” in prison.
Justice Sam Doyle will sentence Freeman next month.