https://i.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/130020288/victims-of-restaurant-stabbing-left-with-lifechanging-injuries
Three people who were stabbed in a frenzied assault inside a Cambridge restaurant suffered life-changing – and possibly career-ending – injuries in the attack.
Emma Nelson, 31, pleaded guilty to charges including wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, when she appeared via audio-visual link in the Hamilton District Court on Thursday.
Judge Keith de Ridder convicted Nelson on the charges and remanded her in ongoing custody until November 15 for sentencing.
Although Nelson goes by the name Emma and is known to identify as a woman, she is named on police charging documents as Matthew Richard Nelson.
According to an initial police summary of facts released to media soon after Nelson’s arrest, she entered the restaurant through a rear entrance about 8.35pm on May 4 this year.
Inside, two of the victims – a man and a woman – were standing in the kitchen with their backs to the back door.
As the summary states, the accused entered the kitchen, with one arm raised and, holding a knife in their clenched fist, approached the man “in a quick and aggressive manner” before stabbing him in the left shoulder in a downward motion.
A customer was in the restaurant at the time and attempted to intervene in the fracas – but was then stabbed in the right side of his abdomen. He lost about a litre of blood as a result.
The injuries to the female victim – now known to be Nelson’s former partner – were severe. They included a laceration to the left side of her face and a stab wound to her upper left back which, as a result, punctured her right lung causing it to collapse and blood to flow into her chest cavity.
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