St Kilda: Tamika Lee Smith faces court after elderly woman threatened with carving fork

A drug user who terrorised an elderly woman with a carving fork in a random attack in St Kilda has made a bid to be released from prison.

A drug user who terrorised an elderly woman with a carving fork and pulled out her hair in a random attack in St Kilda has been refused bail.

Tamika Lee Smith pleaded guilty in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday to attempted armed robbery and reckless cause injury after the terrifying incident on July 6 this year.

Smith got into the 80-year-old victim’s car, began screaming at her and threatened her with the fork, ripping some of her hair out, before demanding she drive her to the airport.

The court heard Smith, 38 at the time of the incident and living in St Kilda East, was unemployed and a regular illicit drug user.

At first Smith politely asked the victim for the time, as the elderly woman returned to her car parked on St Kilda Rd at 12.50pm, after shopping at a nearby store.

But Smith then got into the passenger seat of the woman’s car and began screaming at her, pulling out a 30cm barbecue carving fork and waving it towards the victim’s face, yelling ‘Give me your money and purse’.

The victim told Smith she didn’t have any money, and Smith told her to turn the car around and take her to the airport.

The victim said she couldn’t, and Smith continued to hold the fork and yell at her, pulling her hair so hard a chunk of it came out.

Smith also grabbed the woman’s jaw and pushed the fork to her throat.

The victim screamed and begged her to take the fork away.

The victim then tried to calm Smith down, and agreed to take her somewhere safe, dropping her in Carlisle St.

The victim then drove home and called police, with officers finding her extremely distressed and shaken.

Smith was arrested on July 29 and told police during an interview she had never done anything like that before, saying “I think I gave the woman a scare.”

She said she just wanted to be arrested.

Police opposed Smith being granted bail, due to the nature of her offending, targeting a vulnerable victim, and believed she was also a flight risk.

Police said the victim was quite shaken to hear there was a possibility Smith could be released from custody.

The victim told police she thought about the incident every day, and didn’t want anyone else to fall victim to Smith.

The court heard Smith has an extensive criminal history, including 247 charges across four states.

Smith’s defence lawyer argued she had already been in custody for four months, which was the longest time she had ever spent in prison.

He said if she was to be granted bail, she would have a solid support plan in place, including stable accommodation and mental health and drug and alcohol support.

But Magistrate Olivia Trumble refused to grant Smith bail for the “very serious” random attack on an elderly woman who begged her to stop.

She said Smith already had a number of supports in place when the incident took place, and had a history of offending while on bail.

“The issue in this case in my view is that in respect to risk and the concern the court has is at the time of the offending, the supports that have been put forward were largely in place,” Ms Trumble said.

She said given Smith’s extensive history of offending while on bail, her offending in other states and the fact there were warrants for her arrest, along with the fact Smith asked to be driven to the airport, meant she was satisfied Smith remained an unacceptable risk of committing further offences if she was released.

“If she was to commit further offences she would in my view endanger the safety and welfare of the public,” she said.

Smith was remanded to face the County Court on April 18, 2023.