A KNIFE-WIELDING woman who had to be tasered by police after she chased a man through Dixon Park and ran at builders had two other knives on her when she was arrested, Newcastle Local Court has heard.
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Kathryn Louise Payton, 33, of Hamilton South, appeared in court in handcuffs on Wednesday charged with custody of a knife in a public place, wielding a knife in a public place, affray and resisting arrest. Court documents state Ms Payton was walking along the Bathers Way footpath about 11am on Tuesday when she saw children from a childcare centre on an excursion in Dixon Park. She is accused of grabbing a child by the arm, before telling a childcare worker: “I need to take care of the children, you don’t know how to take care of them”, court documents state.
The worker told Ms Payton to go away and a man in the car park intervened to remove Ms Payton from the area. But while being walked away, Ms Payton allegedly became “agitated and aggressive”, pulling out a steak knife and wielding it around, court documents state.
A number of builders, working on a home in nearby Ocean Street, told police they saw a woman armed with a knife chasing a man through the park and ran over to help. Ms Payton is then alleged to have ran at the builders while armed with the knife.
“The accused was extremely agitated and was yelling out about the children,” a statement of police facts states.
Police arrived and found the woman still agitated and armed with the knife, court documents state. Officers told her to drop the knife, but she did not comply.
“Police have deployed their taser to no effect,” court documents state. “The accused continued in her agitated and irrational state.”
Police used the taser again, this time hitting the woman and dropping her to the ground. She let go of the knife and police arrested her.
When police searched Ms Payton they allegedly found a boning knife and a Swiss army knife on her, court documents state.
She applied for bail on Wednesday, but it was refused by Magistrate Ian Cheetham, who deemed she was an unacceptable risk to the community. He noted Ms Payton had been cleared of any mental illness or disorder after an assessment at the Mater Hospital. Ms Payton denied currently using drugs, although court documents state she was withdrawing from methadone.
Mr Cheetham adjourned the matter until August 4.
