A sentencing hearing has been told of the pain and grief caused by a grandmother who stabbed her daughter-in-law and grandson during a roadside attack in the Illawarra last year. 

The now 60-year-old offender, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted to forcing the family car to pull over at Wongawilli, south of Wollongong, before stabbing her 27-year-old daughter-in-law in the abdomen and her 10-year-old grandson in the neck. 

She pleaded guilty to two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in April, but told the court her actions may have been caused by the side effects of Ozempic. 

Victim impact statements from the mother and a written letter from the grandchild were heard in court today, as other family members, including the offender’s daughter, looked on. 

“It’s been a year of grief, pain and worry around me,” the mother told the court via audiovisual link, with the faint cries of her newborn daughter heard in the background. 

“I carry three scars on the side of my chest, which I try to conceal every day.

The court heard she had been unable to return to her job in the medical field due to the “presence of blood and sharp objects”.

“I flinch at the drop of a spoon or if I touch a kitchen knife,” the mother said. 

Wiping away tears, she went on to read comments written by her son in consultation with his psychologist. 

“I didn’t like how [my grandmother] ran to the car … she got me, and I felt something sharp,” the court heard. 

“I thought I was going to die.” 

“I miss my son’s untainted look on life … the safety he once knew,” the mother added.

Offender ‘blacked out’

Dressed in prison greens and clenching a tissue, the offender appeared via audiovisual link from inside protective custody, where she has been for more than eight months. 

She told the court she had no recollection of the attack, despite confessing to her son and daughter shortly after returning to her granny flat near the family home.  

She did, however, admit to throwing the 15-centimetre fishing knife she used to stab her family members out of her car window while leaving the scene. 

“If that’s what I told police, then yes,” the offender told the court. “It’s all a big blur. All I remember is getting back to the house.” 

While tendering documents, the defence told the court psychological experts had suggested the offender’s violent actions may have been influenced by prescription weight-loss drugs.

The Crown prosecutor told the court the offender asked which route the victims would be taking to judo practice and followed them with the intent to scare them. 

“I do not accept evidence that she was simply curious … there was pre-planning here to some extent,” she said. 

The court heard black latex gloves worn during the incident were stored alongside the weapon inside the console of the offender’s vehicle. 

“They were for my cleaning job. I kept everything in my car,” the offender said. 

The court heard the offender misunderstood the grounds of a five-year apprehended violence order taken out by her son and his family, and penned an apology letter to him.

“I wanted to tell him how sorry I am, that I didn’t know what I was doing, and that I love them all very much,” she said.

Judge Imad Abdul-Karim will hand down his sentence in late June.