Leanne De Baize applies for bail ahead of plea hearing over ‘shocking, callous’ attack on elderly aunt
A Dandenong woman who violently attacked her elderly aunt while in a drug induced psychosis has claimed the TV told her to “chop her up and eat her”.
South East
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A Dandenong woman told police a TV told her to “chop up” her elderly aunt before she carried out a “violent” attack, stabbing her multiple times.
Leanne De Baize, 42, applied for bail in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to four charges, including intentionally causing serious injury and making a threat to kill.
Appearing via video link from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, De Baize was emotional and cried throughout the bail application as her violent offending was recounted.
The court heard De Baize had been at her 74-year-old aunt’s home on the evening of February 9 in 2024, where she’d brought a number of her belongings, including a Coles freezer bag.
After spending the day attempting to convince her aunt and cousin to drive her to various places — including her boyfriend’s Doreen home — De Baize ended up home alone with the elderly woman, who later told police she “felt like she didn’t have a choice”.
De Baize confiscated her aunt’s mobile phone after it rang multiple times, saying “you’re not going to answer the phone”.
They were watching TV together when De Baize’s demeanour “suddenly changed”.
The court heard De Baize said “you know you’re going to die today, I’m going to kill you”, before her aunt attempted to escape the house.
De Baize grabbed the victim’s hair, dragged her down and pulled her towards the kitchen area.
The court heard her aunt pleaded for her life, saying “please let me go” and “someone please try and help me”.
The scuffle went on before De Baize forced her aunt to kneel down before the television and repeat Arabic sounding phrases.
The court heard De Baize had attempted to make the television record the incident before she took a two pronged knife out of the Coles freezer bag.
She said “I told you b---h I’m going to kill you now” and “I’m going to cut your throat” before she began her violent assault.
De Baize stabbed her aunt multiple times, with one stab wound requiring 15 stitches; attempted to suffocate her with a blanket and tried to tie her up, as well as fracturing one of her aunt’s fingers.
The court heard the elderly woman blacked out at certain points of the attack and “thought she was dying”.
De Baize’s cousin arrived at the Dandenong home during the attack and heard her mother screaming from inside the house.
The court heard De Baize fled the scene and later returned to steal her aunt’s car.
She later told police her “phone had been hacked” and she “thought the TV told her to kill (the victim) … to chop her up and eat her”.
De Baize said she “didn’t know why” she’d stabbed her aunt and only stopped when “she thought she was dying”.
On Tuesday, police opposed De Baize’s bail application, calling the assault “shocking, callous and violent”.
The court heard De Baize had been withdrawing from ice at the time of the attack and had previously been prescribed antipsychotic medication but stopped taking it because it “made her gain weight”.
Magistrate Vincenzo Caltabiano said De Baize posed “an unacceptable risk” to the public and refused to grant her bail, saying “the risk of her reoffending cannot be adequately managed”.
De Baize will face the County Court in September for a full plea hearing.
