A mother is behind bars after allegedly stabbing her daughter and three others in a violent rampage through a popular beachside town in the NSW Hunter region.
The 26-year-old was armed with a knife and walking with her five-year-old daughter along a main road in Salamander Bay on Aug. 27 when she got into the back of a car stopped at an intersection, police say.
The woman is accused of stabbing the 45-year-old driver in the shoulder with the knife, covered by a protective sheath.
She got out as the man tried to drive away before walking with her child towards a shopping strip.
Despite being confronted by bystanders, including a man armed with a chair, she allegedly lunged and stabbed a 44-year-old man in the chest after he tried to talk to her.
Witnesses managed to lock her inside a grocery store, where she is then accused of chasing a 50-year-old man and stabbing him in the back.
“She then allegedly took hold of her five-year-old daughter and stabbed her to the head several times before dragging her throughout the store by her hair for a short time,” NSW Police said in a statement on Wednesday.
Officers arrested the woman, who allegedly also punched a senior constable twice in the face.
She was taken to The Mater Hospital for treatment to self-inflicted stab wounds to her head and a mental health assessment.
Her daughter suffered several lacerations to her skull and was taken to John Hunter Hospital.
The three other victims were treated for minor injuries at a nearby clinic.
The woman was later charged with 11 offences, including armed with intent to commit an indictable offence, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assaulting a police officer.
She was refused bail to appear at Raymond Terrace Local Court on Wednesday.
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