A young Italian woman says she thought she would die after she was repeatedly stabbed for her $100 mobile phone as she walked to Claisebrook train station after work on Saturday night.
Stella Trevisani, 27, had finished work as a waitress and was heading home when she was allegedly attacked by a 15-year-old boy near the station platform about 9.20pm.
Ms Trevisani, who has been in Australia for about two years, said she noticed a group of three boys watching her as she approached the station but ignored them and sped up to get away.
As she approached the ramp to the platform, police claim she was confronted by one of the teenagers and stabbed up to five times in the arms and leg.
“I resisted and I fought back but I didn’t realise he had a knife,” Ms Trevisani said from hospital yesterday.
“I thought he was just punching me and pulling me.
“He smashed me against the wall and then he said, ‘If you don’t give me your phone I’m going to stab you everywhere’.
“That was the moment I thought this is serious, and I let the phone go but then he stabbed me in the leg again and I fell over.”
Lying in a pool of blood with a deep wound to her leg and both arms slashed, Ms Trevisani feared she would die.
“The moment I fell down I felt I was surrounded by my blood because it was all warm,” she said.
“I thought I would die because as everybody knows there is a big vein in your leg. I could see the blood springing out and I said to myself, ‘I am going to die’. I called out help, help but I was getting weaker so I stopped yelling and I started getting nausea and feeling really cold.
“I tried to call for help . . . but then I lost my senses and the moment when I opened my eyes everyone was around.”
Transit officers and nearby residents ran to help Ms Trevisani. Police claim the alleged attacker fled on a bicycle along Kensington Street.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested about 300m from where the attack happened and charged with aggravated armed robbery and grievous bodily harm.
Appearing in Perth Children’s Court yesterday, the teenager told Magistrate Andree Horrigan that he wanted to plead guilty.
Earlier, Ms Horrigan ordered the boy to be removed from the courthouse after he repeatedly kicked the door in his holding cell.
The noise was heard throughout the building.
“Given the thumping downstairs, I’m not prepared to have him in my courtroom,” Ms Horrigan said. “I need him removed from the building as soon as possible.”
When the boy appeared later in the day, he repeatedly interrupted proceedings, insisting he wanted to take responsibility for the alleged crime and have his “punishment done today”.
Defence lawyer Claire Rossi said her client had a mild intellectual disability and may not understand the gravity of the situation.
Ms Horrigan explained the charges were “very serious” and that it was important that he receive legal advice.
She made him promise that he would keep quiet when he appears in court on Thursday.
Ms Trevisani said it would be “a while” before she caught the train at night, she was thankful she would make a full recovery.
This article originally appeared on PerthNow.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
