Sariah Skye Champkin, 23, pleads not guilty to stabbing ex-roommate in kerbside brawl

Rising Queensland horse racing apprentice jockey has been accused of stabbing her friend in the back with a pair of blunt scissors.

Queensland apprentice jockey Sariah Champkin. Picture: Grant Peters, Trackside Photography

A rising star in the Queensland racing industry has been accused of stabbing her ex-roommate in the back over alleged stolen kitchen items.

Gold Coast-born apprentice jockey Sariah Skye Champkin, 23, appeared in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Friday July 5 on one charge of assault occasioning bodily harm whilst armed or in company and one count of wilful damage after she allegedly stabbed her ex-roommate with a pair of blunt scissors and supposedly caused damage to another ex-roommate‘s vehicle.

Ms Champkin pleaded not guilty to the two charges.

All three parties were involved in the Toowoomba racing industry.

The court was told Ms Champkin, on March 6, 2024, asked her room mates at the time to vacate a shared premises immediately after Ms Champkin discovered kitchen items belonging to her in a box.

The three occupants were in the midst of moving out at the time but had planned to vacate on March 8, 2024.

When the roommates arrived at the home, Ms Champkin confronted one of them over the alleged stolen property, namely a cutting board, cheese board and grater, $200 cash and an airfryer, before the other roommate interjected.

Both ex-roommates admitted in court to stealing on the stand but denied taking all the items listed.

The court was told a brawl between Ms Champkin and one roommate broke out, with both women throwing punches, only ending when Ms Champkin allegedly pulled out a pair of blunt scissors used to trim horses and threatened her.

Police prosecutor Nick Pratt suggested Ms Champkin threw the first two punches, hitting her ex-roommate in the face, and then stabbed her in the back of the neck with the scissors, leaving a small puncture wound and red mark.

“It devolved into a fight, Ms Champkin finished that fight by stabbing (her) in the back with a pair of scissors then held those scissors to her throat,” Mr Pratt said.

“There was an opportunity for her to effectively extract herself from the situation. It was unnecessary to use that force.”

Defence barrister David Jones KC argued Ms Champkin never held the scissors to her ex-roommate’s throat and merely pressed the scissors into her neck to end the confrontation.

Ms Champkin confessed to verbally threatening her ex-roommate but denied stabbing her.

“I did push the scissors while they were shut down on the back of her neck,” Ms Champkin said in her testimony.

“I felt like I had no choice.

“I just wanted to get out of the situation.

“I was scared and nervous, I’d never been in a position like that before.”

Ms Champkin was also accused of damaging a vehicle used by her ex-roommate by throwing a tall mirror and two wooden bedside tables over the property’s fence.

Witnesses said the fence was around 2m tall and roughly 3-5m from the parked car, which Mr Jones argued was an impossible throwing distance for a woman of Ms Champkin’s small frame.

He said only soft items like pillows and collapsible draw inserts were seen thrown over the fence and noted the mirror was undamaged, meaning it was unlikely to have been thrown.

Magistrate Lisa O’Neill withheld her decision on the day and set a judgement date for July 26 at Toowoomba Magistrates Court.