Chloe Geale thought people were trying to kill her months before she stabbed four people in Port Stephens
The chilling details of the “erratic” behaviour Chloe Geale displayed in the months leading up to a stabbing rampage, where she knifed four people including a little girl, at Port Stephens.
Newcastle
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It was early last year, a friend had noticed her behaviour had significantly changed.
Chloe May Geale was erratic. She thought people were after her, trying to kill her and she feared for her safety according to police facts.
Earlier this month, the 26-year-old from Mayfield pleaded guilty at Newcastle Local Court to stabbing four people including a five-year-old girl in a violent rampage at Salamander Bay in August last year.
Court papers revealed that on January 31, Geale bizarrely tried to find 33-year-old Steven Fenwick who was then reported missing, despite not knowing him.
A friend reported seeing her carry a shovel around looking for him.
The strange behaviour continued when she went missing in July according to police facts.
The same friend — worried about her welfare — booked her into accommodation at Diamond Beach on the mid north coast nearby.
But she was paranoid and went to Forster Police Station to report someone had broken into her unit.
Before she returned home to Mayfield West, Geale told her friend she wasn’t coping, she was stressed and needed treatment at the Mater hospital. It was a call for help.
And it was just a month later, Geale went on a rampage with two knives, first attacking a man in his car, stabbing several people at an IGA grocery store, before turning the knife on a little girl and stabbing her in the head, at Salamander Bay.
It all started at 5.45pm on August 27. Geale jumped into the back seat of a stationary car on Soldier’s Point Rd screaming “who are you” at the three people inside.
Police facts said she had a knife with a sheath covering and stabbed the driver in the left shoulder yelling and ranting “you’re a cowboy, you’re a f***king cowboy”, “I’ve got a knife and I’m evil” and “you killed my mum, you killed my mum” before running off down the road.
Another victim - terminal cancer patient Rohen Andrews who had only been out of hospital a day - ran to help after his partner had seen a woman trying to stab a man in a car while a little girl was crying at the side of the road.
Mr Andrews ran from his house and grabbed a wooden spoon and chair from the fish and chip shop across the road before he approached Geale at a bus stop and tried to coax the little girl to come towards him.
“Are you my father” she said according to police facts as she continued to wave the knife around.
She lunged at him ranting “are you my father, did I come out of your penis”.
Her next stop was the IGA, where she lunged and chased another victim with a knife and stabbed him in the back, before Andrews locked her and the little girl inside the store.
She continued to terrorise shoppers and charged at another man, 50, and stabbed him in the middle of the back yelling “I am going to get you, going to kill you”.
CCTV vision showed Geale stabbed the little girl to the head several times and dragged her by her hair around the store.
She was screaming and had blood all over her face, neck, hair and clothing.
Police arrived shortly after and guns drawn finally apprehended Geale. It was a struggle as Geale punched an officer in the face.
Meanwhile Mr Andrews rushed to the little girl’s aid telling her “it’s ok, you are now safe” giving her a hug.
Geale told police she was under the influence of synthetic cannabis and had smoked amphetamines that night.
In Newcastle District Court on Thursday agreed facts were tendered to court and the matter adjourned until May for sentence.
In court last week, Geale pleaded guilty to three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assaulting police and reckless wounding.
Those pleas led to the withdrawal of four counts of armed with intent to commit indictable offence, wound a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and affray.
For help, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.