Fortitude Valley stabbing: Woman charged with attempted murder

A woman charged with attempted murder has told police she stabbed the man at her Fortitude Valley home because he would not leave the premises, a court has heard.

Fortitude Valley police station

A woman charged with attempted murder has told police she stabbed the man at her Fortitude Valley home because he would not leave the premises, a court has heard.

Magistrate Joseph Pinder described the alleged attack as a “complete and utter over-reaction” in refusing bail for 32-year-old Achiena Machol on Monday morning.

Machol was arrested on Sunday after a 44-year-old man arrived at the Fortitude Valley Police Station with a stab wound.

The Brisbane Magistrates Court heard officers went to Machol’s home where they found a “significant quantity of blood” along with the weapon allegedly used to stab the man.

A man was taken to hospital in a critical condition after a stabbing in a unit block at Bonney Lane in Fortitude Valley. Picture: Mohammad Alfares

The incident occurred in a Bonney Lane unit about 3.30pm and the man was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in a critical condition.

Prosecutor Eddie Fraser opposed Machol’s bail application on Monday, saying she had a nine-page criminal history.

Legal Aid solicitor Cassandra Oswald said Machol had previously faced a “significant amount of adversity” and that she had been getting her life on track in recent months, securing public housing at the offence address and getting work as a cleaner at a Spring Hill hotel.

“She has provided a very scant version to police which may later form the substance of some exploration of a potential defence,” Ms Oswald said.

Ms Oswald said Machol had told police the complainant, “would not leave her residence” which led to the alleged stabbing.

She said the complainant was an associate but was not known to Machol.

Ms Oswald said the defendant, a mother of three, was a permanent resident but not a citizen of Australia.

The court heard the defendant had significant mental health issues and was being treated for a schizoaffective disorder and alcohol addiction.

“She is very concerned about losing her employment but also her (department of housing) accommodation which she waited years for …,” Ms Oswald said.

Blood is evident on a laundry basket near the scene of a stabbing at a Fortitude Valley unit complex. Picture: Mohammad Alfares

Machol is charged with attempted murder, possessing dangerous drugs, possessing pipes and possessing property suspected of use in a drug offence.

“Insofar as the offending is concerned it seems uncontroversial the victim … has suffered very serious, indeed life threatening injuries as the victim of a stabbing,” Magistrate Pinder said.

He said there was a “very, very strong case against the defendant”.

“It is a significant degree of violence, in fact violence that could have resulted in death,” he said.

“It seems to be a complete and utter over-reaction even on the version provided on her behalf….”.

Her case will be mentioned again on October 30.

A resident of the unit block where the incident occurred said the incident was confronting.

“Police told me there was an incident here and asked me not to leave,” James Thornton said.

“I went up stairs and there was blood splattered everywhere along the stairs and everything.

“I’ve lived in the Valley my whole life so you kind of get used to seeing things like that, just not in front your door step.”

It was the latest in a spate of unrelated stabbings across South East Queensland in recent days, including at West End, Capalaba, Ipswich, Noosa and the Gold Coast.