‘Uncomfortable’: Witness, neighbours disturbed by random South Geelong stabbing
A mum has described the moment an elderly woman began pleading for help on a neighbour’s front porch after she was allegedly stabbed from behind in a shocking attack.
Geelong
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A young mother has described the “distressing” moment an elderly woman began pleading for help on a neighbour’s front porch after she was allegedly stabbed from behind in South Geelong, as police addressed a spate of recent knife crime across the city.
Residents living on Mundy Street, the scene of the alleged unprovoked and bloody stabbing on Tuesday night, have described feeling “shocked” by the brazen nature of the attack.
Kat Ryles-Sinniah, 32, was home alone with her two young children at about 6.30pm when she heard the distraught cries of a 73-year-old woman.
It is alleged Jordan Powell, 32, approached her from behind and repeatedly stabbed her, with a Geelong court hearing on Wednesday the victim was lucky to be alive.
She suffered serious wounds to her back and hands.
“My partner wasn’t home at the time, he had just popped out for a minute, and I heard someone knocking on the (neighbours) front door,” Ms Ryles-Sinniah said.
“I just popped my head out, and thought thank god it’s not our door because I wouldn’t have answered it because it was night time.
“The woman seemed to be hurt and she was really distressed and it was very distressing for us, too.”
The mother-of-two said her neighbour, a husband and father of a one-year-old, assisted the bleeding woman and called an ambulance.
“I just kept my kids inside and out of the way,” she said.
Blood spots stained the street out the front of the woman’s home, which has been a hive of police activity since Tuesday night.
Geelong CIU Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Guthrie said the assault was “extremely random” and was a “very rare” crime.
Police are searching for the weapon believed to have been used in the assault, with Mr Guthrie saying the offender “was likely” drug affected.
The attack follows a spate of recent knife crime in Geelong.
“All knife incidents or crime with any weapon is concerning,” he said.
“I do want to stress that it is very rare that random person is attacked on the street with a knife like this one.
“Most parties are known to each other. This one is concerning.”
Detective Senior Sergeant Guthrie praised police officers for making a swift arrest and moved to alay fears about walking the streets alone at night.
The victim remains in the Geelong hospital in a serious condition and requires a “number of surgeries” on one of her fingers.
Powell, who is known to police, has been charged with intentionally cause serious injury.
Elderly resident Joan, who also lives on Mundy Street, said she was a similar age to the alleged victim.
“I’m worried,” she said.
“I’ve had a strange thing happen to me a few years ago, so I think there is a bit around,” she said.
“Geelong is like everywhere else, there is good places and bad places (but) I wouldn’t expect anything like this to happen.”
Ms Ryles-Sinniah said the incident followed an alleged shooting out the front of a friend’s home on nearby Swanston Street.
Armed crime squad detectives are investigating that incident, alleged to have occurred on Saturday, May 6.
“It is uncomfortable,” she said.
“I know something also happened up on the street recently in front of one of our friends place.
“It’s really weird because we thought we lived in a safe area.”
“The (train) station is right there which I don’t think helps.”
South Geelong resident Scott Croker, who walks down Mundy Street daily, said he was “very disturbed” by the incident.
“It is really disturbing. It sounds like drugs to me,” he said.
“Normal people don’t do that kind of thing but people that take meth do.”
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