Mother reveals Melody Neal’s horrific injuries from alleged Kamerunga school stabbing

An 18-year-old who was allegedly repeatedly stabbed by a fellow student at a high school in Far North Queensland, had half her liver removed, and several spinal nerves severed. This is her story.

Melody Neal, 18, was the victim of an alleged school stabbing in May at Peace Lutheran College.

A mother has shared details of her daughter’s remarkable recovery after Melody Neal, the 18-year-old allegedly repeatedly stabbed at her school by a fellow student, had half her liver removed, could not walk or talk for 15 days and had several spinal nerves severed.

There were fears she “wouldn’t make it” after the alleged incident, her mum Sharon Guest said.

On May 16 this year, police allege Caravonica man Marc Rajan Taylor, 18 at time of the alleged incident, walked up to Melody Neal during a midmorning school break at Peace Lutheran College, and stabbed her with a knife multiple times before being restrained by staff.

Mr Taylor, also a student at the college — 12km from Cairns in Far North Queensland — was arrested by police, who later recovered a knife at the scene.

Detective Acting Inspector Jason Chetham described the alleged event as “horrific”.

Ms Neal was rushed to Townsville’s hospital in a critical condition and placed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) after the incident.

Melody Neal, 18, with her dad Stuart Neal, returning home for the first time from hospital. She was allegedly stabbed at school in May at Peace Lutheran College.

Ms Guest said she and her husband Stuart Neal were in Vietnam when they received an email from the school telling them to urgently to contact them.

“I rang the (Cairns) hospital straight after and I just asked the nurse straight out, ‘Is she going to die?’ The nurse replied ‘Her blood pressure is very low’ and so I asked ‘Is she going to die?’ and the nurse said ‘Well, we are very worried’,” Ms Guest said.

“Three hours later we got on a plane, it took three flights to get to Australia and I spent the entire time thinking I was going to go back to visit a morgue.

“I simply do not have the words to explain what that feeling was like.”

When Ms Guest arrived in Australia her daughter had been transferred to Townsville in an induced coma.

“It was touch and go for several weeks,” Ms Guest said.

“We really didn’t know if she was going to live.”

Surgeons operated several times — and had to remove half of Ms Neal’s liver because of the alleged knife wounds.

“When we met with her liver surgeon, he said the damage to her liver had been far greater than the surgeons in Cairns had thought,” Ms Guest said.

They said following the operation surgeons patched up a hole in Ms Neal’s spine caused by the attack.

“Unfortunately, however, they discovered the knife had severed three spinal nerves. So we didn’t know if this meant she couldn’t walk again,” Ms Guest said.

Police cars outside Peace Lutheran College in Cairns after a female student, 18, was allegedly stabbed by a male student. Tuesday, May 16, 2023.

A second spinal surgery followed to fully close the spinal hole and check for any shards of bone or knife in her spinal fluid.

Due to damage to her kidneys Ms Neal, whom a family friend said was a “highly intelligent, sweet person”, was placed on dialysis for several weeks.

“Every time it looked like she was getting better, something would happen — an infection or bleeding episode would occur. Just when it looked like she was going to be taken out of ICU, she had a massive haemorrhage in her bowel.”

It took her daughter, who Ms Guest calls Bi-Bi, four weeks to return to consciousness.

Three months on from the incident and Ms Guest says her daughter was coping relatively well.

Her walking has returned to near-normal although she still gets severe pain in her right leg. She has also returned to part-time study and wants to finish Year 12 — although this has proved difficult because sitting aggravates her leg pain.

“To be honest I still think she is in shock. But she’s doing OK at this stage.”

Ms Guest said her own hair has started falling out from stress since the alleged May incident.

Ms Neal was a boarding student at the private Peace Lutheran College, her parents now look set to return permanently to Australia.

A recent photo of Melody Neal, 18, who was allegedly stabbed at school in May at Peace Lutheran College.

Ms Neal and her parents have also made a joint statement to their school saying they “were awe-struck by the humbling care and humanity that poured our way from the Peace Lutheran Community”.

“Throughout Melody’s protracted recovery, parents, teachers and students sent gifts, vouchers and prayers in a tsunami of compassion and care.

They said Peace Lutheran College staff’s actions “saved Melody’s life” and had recently met with them to “thank them from the bottom of our hearts”.

Ms Neal is known for her artistic talents and her social media pages are filled with cartoon anime drawings.

She hopes to be able to finish Year 12 and go on to study “finance, design or something creative” in the future.

Before the incident, she worked as a casual at Fenglehorn Sauces and McDonalds in Smithfield.

Originally published as Mother reveals Melody Neal’s horrific injuries from alleged Kamerunga school stabbing