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Allegations
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Police hunting the man
who repeatedly stabbed a A large team of police
combed the Styx Mill Reserve and surrounding area yesterday for clues to the
man's identity as residents living nearby worried for their safety. One mother spoken to
yesterday said 90 per cent of parents at nearby Casebrook Intermediate dropped their children at school
yesterday, rather than allow them to walk. The mother said she
felt unsafe allowing her children to walk to school. "What happens if
this person stabs a child? I still think it's really safe round here, but I
think it's appalling something like this could happen to someone. "I definitely
would not walk through there, what if someone was there? That poor
woman." She said her daughter
was "absolutely petrified" when she heard about the attack because
the girl had seen someone matching the attacker's description on Thursday
morning. "She has just
started riding her bike to school and then this happens -- she said she is
never biking home again." The 47-year-old victim
of Thursday's attack was released from hospital yesterday and is understood
to be recovering well at home, although she is still traumatised by her
ordeal. She received multiple
stab wounds to her abdomen and hands as she fought off her attacker -- a man
in his late teens or early 20s, who was wearing a grey-hooded top and who was
about 175cm tall -- before staggering up to Detective Senior
Sergeant Grant Wormald, who is heading the police
investigation into the stabbing, said several items of interest had been
found during yesterday's search and police had fielded a huge stream of calls
from the public. "There are a few
bits and pieces that have been picked up ... and the phones haven't
stopped," Wormald said. Among the calls had
been many sightings of the alleged offender, he said. It appeared he may have
been living rough in the reserve. Nearby resident Debbie,
who asked The Press not to print her surname for security reasons, said she
went to the reserve for her daily walk on Thursday and was shocked to find
motorists attending to the woman who had been stabbed. "It was really
shocking. She was extremely lucky to get out to the road." Debbie said the timing
had been frightening as she had seen a man of a similar description to the
attacker acting suspiciously in the reserve the day before the
stabbing," she said. "I went for a run
through there the day prior to that at exactly the same time and saw two guys
in there ... I said `hello' but they didn't reply back. I didn't feel
comfortable." One of them was walking
with his hood up over his head. "They just didn't fit there," she
said. On Thursday, she had
been delayed and arrived at the reserve 30 minutes later than the day before.
"I thought `oh my
God', heck, I could have been walking through there or seen something. Before
I felt really safe in there ... now I definitely would not go in there on my
own," she said. Other residents and
reserve users from the Styx Mill area had mixed reactions about safety in the
park. One woman, who was
walking alone, said the attack was terrible, and it would make her think
twice about going into the reserve alone. However, an elderly
couple who had lived next to the reserve for 12 years,
said they would not be deterred from walking through it. "I think it is an
isolated incident, it is lovely down there. It's a great looking and safe
walking track," the man said. Wormald asked anyone who had
information about the attack, or who may have seen someone fitting the
description given, in the Styx Mill area in the last few weeks, to contact
police. * A second middle-aged
woman has reported being the victim of an unprovoked attack this week. She
was walking through . Have you seen this man
in the Styx Mill reserve area? * Caucasian male late
teens to early 20s * About 157cm to 167cm
tall (5'6" to 5'9") * Medium build * Wearing a distinctive
grey hooded sweatshirt * Hoodie
had a long, dirty appearance. -------------------- CAPTION: Grant Wormald. Seeking clues: police officers comb the scene
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