HOW COULD I STAND STILL WHEN THEY’RE HURTING MY SON..?! – HERO MUM SPEAKS OUT AFTER BEING S-TABBED SEVEN TIMES WHILE PROTECTING HER SON WITH A BRAIN TUMOUR IN MELBOURNE A-TTACK.
Hero mum speaks out after being stabbed seven times protecting son with brain tumour in Melbourne attack
‘I could hear him screaming in absolute horror’.
Mother stabbed protecting son with brain tumour
(Source: 7NEWS)
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The woman allegedly attacked while protecting her son in Melbourne has spoken out, saying she is still processing what happened.
Phillip Island mother Cherie Holt was stabbed seven times with scissors while protecting her 10-year-old son, who has an extremely rare and inoperable brain tumour, in Melbourne’s Docklands.
The 46-year-old single mother suffered a broken leg, eye injuries and puncture wounds when she was allegedly attacked by 27-year-old Jerry Sowood outside Victoria Police Headquarters in Spencer St on Tuesday.
The mother and son had travelled from Phillip Island to Melbourne for her son’s brain scan appointment scheduled for Wednesday.
Sowood allegedly punched the 10-year-old boy in the face, prompting his mother to intervene to protect her son before onlookers also stepped in to help.
“I yelled at my boys to get out of there and run. I stood between the man and my children because there was absolutely no way I was going to let him get to them again,” Holt said in a statement provided to 7NEWS.
“That’s when he turned his attention to me.”
Holt said she was punched in the face before being grabbed in a headlock and repeatedly stabbed.
“At some point I realised one of my boys hadn’t been able to run. I could hear him screaming, ‘Mum, Mum,’ in absolute horror.”
Her brother, Kirk Holt, said his sister was continuing to recover in hospital.
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“She’s very sore. Recovering. They finally stitched up the last of her wounds last night. She’s been very sore, though,” he told ABC.
Kirk told the publication that Cherie’s eldest son had run and alerted police, with her children now struggling following the attack.
“(They’ve) had a couple of tough nights,” he said.
“They’re missing mum. They want to be with mum and they’re really worried about how she is and just very wary about people walking along the street.”
Holt said her only thoughts during the attack were for her children and their welfare.
“Being attacked myself was terrifying, but that wasn’t what I was thinking about,” she said.
“I was watching somebody attack my child and then trying to make sure he couldn’t get to any of my boys again.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen to me, but I knew I had to keep that man away from my child.
“As their mum, protecting my boys was the only thing that mattered.”
Kirk created a GoFundMe to support his sister, saying: “Thankfully, they survived but the physical and emotional impact on the family has been significant.
“Cherie is a single mother and is not currently working, so she has very limited financial flexibility to absorb the unexpected costs and disruption caused by this attack.
“At the same time, she must continue supporting her son through his ongoing cancer treatment and monitoring, while caring for her other children and recovering from her own injuries.”
Kirk said he was incredibly grateful to the members of the public who stepped in to help during the attack.
Good Samaritans, including Brian Bradley, stepped in to help restrain the alleged attacker.
“It’s just instinct, just what a man should be doing. Instead of picking up a phone and recording, it was just gut instinct to jump in and assist people in need,” Bradley said.
Holt thanked the men who “stepped into an incredibly dangerous situation” to save her and her children.
“In doing that, you potentially saved not only me and my children, but other members of the public as well,” she said.
“There will never be enough words to explain how grateful I am to you men. And when I’m mobile again, the beers are definitely on me.”
Sowood has been charged with affray, two counts of intentionally cause injury and unlawful assault, conduct endanger life and conduct endanger serious injury.
He made no application for bail in court on Wednesday afternoon and is refusing legal help.
“I was in a mental state of mind and I did what I did,” Sowood told the court.
“At least they’re both still breathing, you know, so I kept my humanity.”
Sowood was remanded into custody to return to court in November.
Kirk said he now fears for his and his family’s safety in Melbourne CBD.
“We’re supposed to be one of the top, most liveable cities on earth — not if you’re scared to go out on the streets it’s not,” he told ABC.
Cherie is continuing her recovery at Royal Melbourne Hospital while her son was taken to Royal Children’s Hospital.
