Axe attack at Enmore: Two people in hospital, woman in custody
EXCLUSIVE: A woman has been charged after two people were allegedly attacked with an axe in Sydney’s inner-west this morning, one of which was spared serious injury thanks to her hair.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A woman has been charged, after a random axe attack in Sydney’s inner west this morning left two people in hospital and several more in shock.
About 2.25am, police were called to a service station on Stanmore Rd in Enmore after a 32-year-old man was allegedly struck in the head with an axe inside the store.
Police also received reports of a 43-year-old woman allegedly being hit by an axe outside the premises.
Witnesses say the axe-wielding attacker was a blonde woman in her 20s, who didn’t say a word as she walked calmly from the scene.
One woman was buying milk was knocked unconscious and another shopper at the Seven Eleven service station was left with a serious head wound after being allegedly slashed with the fire axe.
The assailant was described by a witness as a “tall, young, beautiful blonde”.
As blood poured from the head wound, she allegedly swung the axe at a woman who was there buying milk.
But the woman’s saving grace was her thickly dreadlocked hair, which stopped the axe from lacerating her scalp.
Spared from the sharp blade of the axe, she was nevertheless knocked unconscious when she was hit with the butt of the big fire axe.
A man outside didn’t realise what was happening.
“I was cleaning my window, and I heard a pop, somebody dropped a broken glass bottle. I turned around and saw her walking, and she just walked across the road,” he said.
A couple who had been in the store fled for their lives as they ran from the service station.
The woman appeared calm as she walked away from the scene, but lashed out again at another man she encountered outside on Stanmore Road.
She swung her axe, but narrowly missed, instead tearing the man’s outer garments with the axe.
Witness Nathan Wood, who saw the whole scene unfold, bravely followed the woman so he could get a better description of her for emergency services.
“When she nicked that guy’s jacket, I was surprised he wasn’t wounded,” he said.
“I saw her coming out of the store, I saw there was a body on the floor, I realise it wasn’t a prank or a stunt, so I immediately called triple-0,” he said.
As he spoke on the phone to triple-0, he followed her metres up Stanmore Road.
“There was a guy following her, talking on the phone, he had balls,” a witness said of Mr Wood’s actions.
Mr Wood, originally US citizen who is currently applying for Australian citizenship, was modest about his actions.
“I see Aussies punching sharks on the news, I figure I have got to do something to earn my citizenship,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
Police and ambulance cars swarmed the service station.
A police sniffer dog soon arrived on the scene and immediately pounced on the suspected woman’s location on the front lawn of a terrace house.
An axe she allegedly had in her possession was seized.
She was taken out on to the street by police before being strapped on to a stretcher and put into the back of an ambulance.
She was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital for assessment.
She was released into police custody and taken to Kings Cross Police Station.
The woman has been charged with wound person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and cause grievous bodily harm to person with intent.
She was refused bail, to appear at Parramatta Bail Court tomorrow.
The parties involved are not known to each other.
Her alleged victims were all taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, and remain in a stable condition.
Thousands without power as more storms loom for Sydney
Sydney is bracing for more storms after severe weather brought lightning, large hailstones, and heavy rain, leaving thousands without power. Emergency services responded to dozens of calls for help, with the inner west hit hardest by the deluge.
Leading company pulls out of Illawarra Wind Zone
A world-leading offshore wind company has decided it won’t bid on the controversial project, with Chris Bowen’s office refusing to confirm if other companies are still in the race.