A 45-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly attacking his wife with an axe at a Melbourne shopping mall.
The man is facing nine charges in total, including attempted murder and intentionally causing serious injury in circumstances of gross violence.
The accused will face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court this morning after being denied bail in an out-of-sessions hearing overnight, according to Detective Senior Constable Brad Coller.
The beautician, believed to be in her 30s, was working at The Beauty and Brow Parlour when her estranged husband allegedly used an axe concealed in a shopping bag to strike her “multiple times”.
Hasan Zaman, the owner of the beauty parlour, was shocked by the attack, saying staff called security and police as it unfolded.
“She couldn’t talk, she was badly beaten,” he said.
“I don’t know what he was thinking, a normal person cannot do this … you can’t beat people in this country.
“It was lucky it was in the shopping centre, we could take immediate action and he didn’t run away.”
Mr Zaman told Fairfax he understood the couple had separated last year and had two teenaged children together, a boy and a girl.
“She was so well liked by customers and all the employees. Very much so. My heart is broken. I cannot believe somebody could do this,” he said.
“If someone has problems and issues they can solve it in a different way.
“To come and attack someone, it’s inhumane. I hope the law takes this into account and does the right thing so this sort of thing is not tolerated.”
An employee at Vodafone, Brody Rucka, heard a “full on” scream and ran towards the noise.
He told Fairfax he saw a woman lying in a pool of blood behind the beauty parlour counter who was conscious but had blood covering her face.
“The way he was standing there was like we were all overreacting,” Rucka said.
Police established a crime scene and cordoned off the area after taking away the accused.
