‘Unimaginable grief’: Child dead and two critical after Blue Mountains stabbing caps weekend of horror

The stabbing death of a preschool-aged child in the Blue Mountains capped a brutal spate of domestic violence related deaths over the weekend, with four people killed in separate incidents and two small children fighting for their lives.

Cyclists stumbled upon three children under the age of five and a woman in her 40s, all suffering stab wounds, on Waratah Road, Valley Heights, near Springwood early on Sunday afternoon, in what police believe was only minutes after the violence unfolded.

The children were inside a car that had partially turned into a vacant block, near a fire trail leading into the national park, and the woman was outside the car nearby. Police are not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident.

Those at the scene applied first aid while calling emergency services, but by the time the ambulances arrived a short time later, one of the children was already dead.

Residents of Waratah Road are familiar with tragedy. It is not uncommon for them to hear sirens on the Great Western Avenue that runs parallel to Waratah Road, or for rescue services to use the fire trail to reach people who have suffered misadventures in the park. Historically, bodies have been dumped in the area.

Neighbour Peita Davies said everybody on the street knew one another, and the woman and the children were not believed to be locals. They did not match the physical description of anyone who lived on the street.

The street had been strangely silent throughout the violent event, she said.

“Nobody heard anything,” Davies said. “We all want to know how they ended up here.”

Another resident, Glenn Lyall, said he initially assumed when he saw police in the street that there had been a car crash.

“I could see a hatchback on an angle and two cyclists pointing, and I thought the car had hit one of the cyclists,” Lyall said. It was only later that he learned the nature of the injuries.

Blue Mountains Area Commander, Superintendent John Nelson, said the woman was not known to police, and that the children’s father had been told, but no further details would be released until the wider family had been contacted. He would not confirm whether the woman was the children’s mother, or the status of her relationship with the father.

“You can imagine receiving that tragic news, that person is at work, going about their business, and they’ve had this information provided to them,” Nelson said.

“All of Sydney, people are just going about a lovely Sunday afternoon and to be confronted with this is traumatic and tragic for anybody.”

The children were taken to the Children’s Hospital at Westmead in a critical condition, and the woman was taken to Westmead Hospital, where her condition was also critical.

The incident became the fourth domestic violence-related incident in 24 hours, including a woman found decapitated in her home and an elderly woman allegedly stabbed to death in Bondi by her grandson, who claimed he was suffering the side effects of Ozempic.

Premier Chris Minns, who will address the media on Monday, said just hours before the stabbing incident that his thoughts were with the families and communities of the three women who died on Saturday.

“These are shocking crimes and families are today dealing with unimaginable grief,” Minns said.

On Saturday, about 9.35pm, police were called to a domestic violence incident at Mole Creek in the state’s north, where they were told a 27-year-old man had entered a property and tried to steal a vehicle before assaulting the 74-year-old male home owner.

The younger man was arrested and police then went on to search the neighbouring property, where they found the body of a 70-year-old woman, which appeared to have been decapitated, sources not authorised to speak publicly confirmed. Part of the property was also damaged by fire.

The man, alleged to be the woman’s son, was taken to Tenterfield police station and charged with murder. He was refused bail and will face court tomorrow.

Just hours earlier, a woman in her 90s was fatally stabbed in a Bondi apartment in the early evening, just metres from a busy pedestrian thoroughfare and the beach.

Sergei Mitnik, 47, had been estranged from his 90-year-old grandmother Valentina Spivak. He was arrested on Saturday and charged on Sunday with domestic violence murder.

“This is an extremely serious matter,” Javid Faiz, solicitor for Mitnik, told the Herald.

Faiz said Mitnik would need to be assessed by psychiatrists, as he was suffering side effects from weight-loss drug Ozempic.

“His Honour accepted that those concerns warranted further assessment by appropriately qualified medical professionals, and those assessments will now be undertaken,” he said.

Mitnik did not apply for bail and it was formally refused on Sunday.

Earlier on Saturday, at a home in Kooringal, a suburb of Wagga Wagga, a 23-year-old woman was fatally stabbed inside a home, allegedly at the hands of her partner.

Emergency services responded about 11.45am on Saturday.

NSW Ambulance paramedics and police officers performed CPR on the woman, but she died at the home.

An 18-year-old was arrested at the scene, but was later released without charge.

Police launched a search for a second man, who fled the residence before the arrival of emergency services. Police will allege in court that he was the woman’s partner.

Later on Saturday, about 8.30pm, the man was arrested at another home in Kooringal. The 31-year-old was taken to Wagga Wagga police station, where he was charged with domestic violence murder.

One woman was killed by an intimate partner every 11 days in 2024-25, according to recent data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Of the 48 women killed in domestic homicides in that period, 32 were killed by their intimate partner, seven by a parent, eight by their child and one by another relative.

Police are encouraging anyone with dashcam or phone footage of the area around the time of the report to contact Springwood Police Station or CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.

with Rachel Rasker

If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.

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