A teenager accused of murdering her little sister allegedly attacked her younger brother “completely out of nowhere,” police say.
The 17-year-old was arrested after her 10-year-old sister was found with stab wounds in Boolaroo, in the Lake Macquarie region of New South Wales, at 3.45pm on Monday.
The 10-year-old girl was treated by paramedics before dying at the scene.
Her older sister was then escorted by officers to Belmont police station and the murder charge was heard at Broadmeadow Children’s Court on Tuesday morning.
She was charged with murder (DV) and did not apply for bail. Neither she nor her family were present in court in the case.
Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty, homicide squad commander, said police will allege the attack was random.
“There is no indication from the information we have at this time that indicates why this (allegedly) occurred,” he told reporters Tuesday.
‘It’s very difficult to imagine. It is unthinkable that this could happen to a 10-year-old child.
The 17-year-old was arrested after her 10-year-old sister was found with stab wounds in Boolaroo, in the Lake Macquarie region of New South Wales, at 3.45pm on Monday.
Homicide Squad Commander and Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty are pictured addressing the media at a press conference on Tuesday.
“This is one of those incidents, as far as we know, that has happened completely out of the blue.”
Police said the 10-year-old girl was allegedly stabbed with a “sharp instrument” several times in the upper body.
The girls were the only two girls in the home and the family had no previous dealings with police over domestic violence issues.
Detective Doherty said the family is still struggling to come to terms with the tragedy and offered his condolences.
“These are tragic circumstances,” he said. ‘There is a family that is still grieving, trying to come to terms with what happened.
“My thoughts are with a mother who lost her 10-year-old daughter and now has another daughter facing court as allegedly responsible.”
Detectives declared the house a crime scene and launched an urgent investigation into the girl’s death.
The house at the center of the alleged murder is in a new development of detached bungalows that are largely owner-occupied and located on hills.
The death of the 10-year-old girl has shocked the neighborhood.
Neighbors on this quiet suburban street were horrified by the murder charge Tuesday morning.
Residents were mostly retirees and young families, while others were people with special needs living in street facilities.
The house was in a new development of detached bungalow properties that are largely owner-occupied and located on hills.
The quiet estate is normally the scene of people walking their dogs and children playing, but on Tuesday it was still closed off by police as forensic experts swarmed the scene.
A neighbor said she thought the house where the alleged murder occurred was rented because the garden was the only one that was not maintained.
“My daughter is the same age and she’s scared that someone is going to stab her too, so she’s very shocked,” another neighbor said.
“You don’t believe something like this could happen on your street.”
He described the street as quiet and said no one knew much about the family.
A 17-year-old girl has been charged with murder after her 10-year-old sister was found stabbed to death.
Neighbors on the quiet suburban street were horrified by the murder charge Tuesday morning.
One woman shook as she told WhatsNew2Day Australia she did not believe there were children living at the property.
“There was an older woman and a younger woman, maybe 30 or something, living there, but I didn’t see any children there.”
“The youngest one was driving one of the cars and saying ‘hello’ outside, but that’s it.”
Forsten said another neighbor had seen the girls at the property over the Christmas period, but they had not been seen at the property since.
“I’m shaking,” he said. ‘It is awful.’
Another neighbor said: ‘The woman has lost everything.
“He has lost his family, it is a tragedy.”
Other people who were home at the time of the alleged incident said they didn’t hear any noise coming from the house at all.
“We thought there were a lot of sirens nearby, but they turned them off when we entered the street because there was no traffic.
Dozens of police remained at the scene Monday night.
The quiet estate is normally the scene of people walking their dogs and children playing, but on Tuesday it was still closed off by police as forensic experts swarmed the scene.
“But then there was a knock on our door and that’s when we found out it was on our street.”
The crime scene was still in place Tuesday morning as police continued investigations.
Photos from the scene show shocked locals gathering outside the crime scene.
Several police vehicles remained parked on the street as detectives were seen coming and going from the home Monday night.
The latest incident follows a series of unrelated stabbings in New South Wales in recent weeks.
It has been two weeks since five women and shopping center security guards lost their lives during a stabbing at Westfield Bondi Junction on April 13.
Two days later, Assyrian Orthodox Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was stabbed in a church in Wakeley, western Sydney, on April 15.
A man, 28, was stabbed in Quakers Hill last Friday night before dying on the way to hospital.