Isabella Aneta Cisarova pleads not guilty to attempted murder over alleged Esplanade stabbing of mum

A young woman “watched and waited” before attacking her mother from behind and ultimately slashing her throat with a box cutter on Cairns Esplanade, a court has heard.

The Esplanade was packed with tourists at the time the Crown alleges Ms Cisarova attempted to kill her mother. Picture: Brendan Radke

A young woman “watched and waited” before attacking her mother from behind and ultimately slashing her throat with a box cutter, Cairns Supreme Court heard on Monday.

Isabella Aneta Cisarova, 22, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and to grievous bodily harm with intent over the incident at 5.41pm on November 23, 2022, on the crowded Esplanade outside Crystalbrook Riley Hotel.

Senior Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane said mother-of-three, who cannot be named for legal reasons, would have bled to death from a severed jugular vein without urgent medical intervention.

He showed the jury a confronting close-up image of the 15cm sutured wound and an image of the bloodied box cutter.

“That is not the only injury she got, she sustained numerous injuries to her hands, fingers, forearm and further up her arm, wounds of the type that might be considered defensive injuries,” Mr Crane said.

The Crown alleges Isabella Aneta Cisarova attacked her mother with the intent to kill her on the footpath outside Crystalbrook Riley on the Esplanade in November 2022. Picture: Supplied

Ms Cisarova was “waiting and watching” as her mother’s weekly visit with two younger siblings at Muddy’s Playground, each Wednesday from 3.30pm to 5.30pm, came to an end, Mr Crane said.

The woman saw her daughter and began a recording on her phone – a move that would record her own screams.

Mr Crane said at “peak hour” there were many locals and tourists and the incident was extensively recorded on CCTV.

The court heard the mother’s relationship with her oldest daughter deteriorated years before the family emigrated from Czechia in 2022, with six people living in a one-bedroom unit on Lake St.

The mother alleged her partner was physically and verbally abusive, and in the months before the attack, she fled to a woman’s shelter with the two younger children, but the children were later returned to their father at Lake St.

Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane told a Cairns Supreme Court jury that Isabella Cisarova intended to end her mother’s life when she inflicted a 15cm wound in her neck. Picture: Brendan Radke

Mr Crane said over several months, Ms Cisarova and her father exchanged disparaging texts about the woman, “described as a psychopath, swine, bitch”.

He said the pair made facetious comments about acts of violence towards her, like throwing the woman from a window.

Moments after mother and daughter looked at each other across the road, the mother was allegedly hit in the back, turned, and copped a flurry of punches to her head.

Mr Crane said she did not see her daughter produce the weapon.

Defence barrister Tim Grau said there was no dispute Ms Cisarova inflicted the injuries. Picture: Brendan Radke

“She felt severe pain, saw blood, and it was gushing, and saw a knife in her daughter’s hand,” he told the jury.

He said a witness went over and would describe Ms Cisarova standing over the top of her mother and saying “she’s my mother” before plunging the boxcutter into her neck.

She allegedly said “you killed my siblings”.

After inflicting the wound, Ms Cisarova stood up, stepped back, put the boxcutter on the ground and sat down.

Defence barrister Tim Grau said there was no dispute Ms Cisarova caused the injuries and the issue was her intention and state of mind at that moment.

Originally published as Isabella Aneta Cisarova pleads not guilty to attempted murder over alleged Esplanade stabbing of mum