A woman accused of brutally stabbing a stranger in the CBD is facing more than 50 criminal charges dating back four years.
Lauren Darul, 32, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday for a bail application after she was arrested for the brazen daylight attack on October 2.
Lauren Darul.
But a lawyer for Darul, who appeared by video link and was dressed in a white t-shirt and blue pants, withdrew her client’s bid for freedom at the start of the hearing.
In a chilling ambush captured on CCTV, sushi chef Wan Lai was seen walking to work about 7.40am when Darul allegedly came up from behind her and stabbed the 36-year-old in the chest on Little Bourke Street before fleeing.
Lai could be seen clutching her chest as Darul allegedly fled before falling to the ground and being tended to by shocked witnesses, paramedics and police.
Darul has been charged with recklessly causing injury and intentionally causing injury over the attack.
CCTV footage shows the moment a woman allegedly stabbed 36-year-old Wan Lai in Melbourne’s CBD.
Charge sheets released by the court on Tuesday provide details of the dozens of charges, some dating back to January 2022, that the accused is facing.
A consolidated list of charges against Darul detail alleged offences all over the city including in North Melbourne, South Melbourne, Port Melbourne, and suburbs in the north-west including Avondale Heights and Keilor East.
During the brief hearing, Magistrate Timothy Bourke queried how Darul’s case had “bypassed” the court’s intensive case management list earlier this year.
The list is a pilot program used for managing complex legal cases with the goal of timely resolution.
“I am asking how does that happen?” Bourke said during the hearing.
Instead, the court was told, Darul’s matter was adjourned earlier this year to the Assessment and Referral Court, which is used for cases against alleged offenders experiencing mental health issues or cognitive impairment.
Lai spent three days in hospital with a collapsed lung, and has moved out of her CBD apartment saying she felt too afraid to live there any longer.
“The body is slowly recovering,” Lai said in her latest update on social media on Wednesday. “I also met a few psychiatrists to talk to, hoping to calm myself down and regain the sense of security in Melbourne.”
Lai has moved house this week, hoping the fresh start will do her good. “The shock of that moment really changed my whole life,” she told her followers.
“I have temporarily lost all my financial resources and am not sure when I will be able to resume my working body. Doctors estimate that recovery will take at least one to two months, but it is still unknown whether I will be able to recover from the previous physical strength.”
Darul will appear in court again on November 25.
With Hannah Hammoud and Alexander Darling
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