Dominic Lagudi and Amelia Rose Weller charged over Newcastle West laneway double stabbing

A police helicopter and dog squad were used in the arrest of young couple accused of an unprovoked laneway double stabbing in Newcastle.

The laneway called Devonshire St, which runs between King and Hunter streets in Newcastle and where two men were allegedly stabbed during an attack on January 19, 2022. Picture: Google Maps.

A young couple have been remanded in custody after being charged over a violent double stabbing in a Newcastle laneway which left both alleged victims needing surgery, including one for a wound to the neck.

Dominic Lagudi, who turned 18 only two days before the alleged attack, and his 31-year-old girlfriend Amelia Rose Weller were dramatically arrested in an operation involving a police helicopter and heavily-armed officers at Jesmond just after midnight on Wednesday.

The pair have both been charged with two counts of wound person with intent to cause grievous bodily as well as possessing a prohibited pistol after Lagudi was allegedly found to be carrying a gel blaster following the arrest on Blue Gum Rd.

Police allege Lagudi was the person who stabbed two Nepalese chefs on Devonshire St – an alleyway between the busy arterial routes of King and Hunter streets – about 3.30am on January 19.

Police allege the victims, a 25-year-old and 28-year-old chefs who worked at the Sapphire Indian Restaurant in Merewether, were injured in an unprovoked attack.

The laneway called Devonshire St, which runs between King and Hunter streets in Newcastle and where two men were allegedly stabbed during an attack on January 19, 2022. Picture: Google Maps.

One needed emergency surgery to a knife wound to the neck and the second hospitalised with a badly injured arm.

Newcastle City detectives commenced an investigation before simultaneous search warrants were conducted on Lagudi’s home at Mayfield and Weller’s home at Stockton on Tuesday.

Both were not home and a search continued until police attended a Jesmond unit on Wednesday.

Operation Utah officers were assisted by Polair and the dog squad before the couple were taken into custody.

Both were charged with two counts of wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and one count each of possessing an unauthorised pistol and possessing ammunition without a permit.

Weller made a release application in Newcastle Local Court on Thursday before magistrate Ian Cheetham refused her bail.

Lagudi did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody.

The pair will face court again on April 27.