Coles bans sale of kitchen knives after worker allegedly stabbed by 13-year-old

Coles will pull kitchen knives from all Australian stores after 13-year-old allegedly stabbed a staffer as she stacked shelves in Queensland.

A 13-year-old boy is arrested by police.

Coles have stripped shelves of knives and implemented a national sales ban after a 13-year-old boy stabbed a worker, in an alleged attack David Crisafulli conceded would not fall under his flagship “adult crime, adult time” laws.

The Queensland Premier, who centred his October election campaign on tackling the juvenile crime crisis and driving down offending rates, was forced to defend his credibility on Wednesday after revelations the serious charge of attempted murder was not captured under the controversial laws.

However, he would not be drawn on whether it was an oversight that the charge had been excluded from the legislation and insisted he had “fulfilled the commitment we made to Queenslanders”.

“I want Queenslanders to know there will be more changes, and that must occur, and it will occur, and I’m not going to walk away from how important that is,” Mr Crisafulli said.

Mother-of-two Claudia Campomayor Watt, 63, was stocking the fridge at the back of the Coles supermarket in Yamanto Central Shopping Centre in Ipswich shortly before 5.30pm on Monday when she was stabbed in the back with a large knife. She remains in a serious condition.

In response to the workplace incident, Coles announced on Wednesday it had withdrawn its range of kitchen knives from supermarkets for shelves across the country.

“Coles complies with all legislation regarding the sale of kitchen knives, and this withdrawal is being taken out of an abundance of caution as we conduct a review,” a spokesperson said.

The Making Queensland Safer laws, which came into effect on December 13, introduced a mandatory minimum sentence of life imprisonment for murder and increased maximum penalties for 12 other offences, including grievous bodily harm and serious assault.

No changes were made to penalties for ­children convicted of attempted murder.

Voice for Victims advocate Trudy Reading said many community members felt let down by the reforms. But she was hopeful that an expert panel expected to recommend changes to the legislation would expand the scope of offences.

“There’s a lot of people...that have got a lot of disappointment because they feel duped,” Ms Reading said.

“We always understood that there would be further changes and that this is just part of the package.

“I would think that it would be appropriate to have (rape and attempted murder) included.”

Opposition leader Steven Miles said the government had rushed the legislation through parliament without considering the advice experts, community groups, and stakeholders.

“The experts said there would be unintended consequences by passing legislation that had not been properly and rigorously tested,” Mr Miles said.

“But David Crisafulli rushed these laws through regardless, promising crimes like this would stop once the laws were introduced before Christmas.

“The horrendous incident this week has shown that David is Crisafulli running a government on slogans without substance.”

National Human Rights Commissioner for Children, Anne Hollonds, said the “curious mix” of charges that fall under the legislation are not based on evidence and would lead to youth offenders facing harsher penalties than adults.

“We’ve got to be asking, why?” Ms Hollands said

“What is going on when a tiny, little 13-year-old kid does this? To me, that’s the core issue here.

“They are relying on these harsher sentences, and they’ve said that they believe it will be a deterrent, and there is no evidence of that.”

Reaffirming his commitment to reforming early intervention programs and rehabilitation, Mr Crisafulli said youth crime was “something that is deeply personal to me and deeply important to our government”.

“There has to be fewer victims, and that consistent position is something that I took before the election.”

Additional reporting: Alexandra Feiam