Woman accused of stabbing partner with plate outside Geraldton’s Batavia Motor Inne gets bail

A 28-year-old Meekatharra woman charged after allegedly stabbing her partner in the head, chest and back up to five times in Geraldton has been released on bail. Police were called to a domestic dispute at the abandoned Fitzgerald Street hotel, currently being used as a makeshift camp for some of the city’s homeless, just before 5pm on Sunday. Once they arrived outside Batavia Motor Inne they found a 33-year-old man with multiple stab wounds up to 10mm deep, which they say were inflicted by shard of a broken plate, wielded by his partner Frances Anne Starr. St John WA rushed the man to Geraldton Regional Hospital shortly after the incident. As of Monday, he remained in hospital in a stable condition. Ms Starr faced Geraldton Magistrates Court on Monday on one count of unlawful wounding with circumstances of aggravation. Sergeant Paul Burkinshaw alleged that an argument had broken out between Ms Starr and her partner in the moments before the attack, which had prompted Ms Starr’s partner to drag her by her hair across the ground. The court was told Ms Starr lost a clump of hair as a result, and then allegedly used a shard of a broken plate to stab her partner in the head, chest and back four to five times. Sgt Burkinshaw said some of the wounds were 10mm deep and that the man had been “bleeding heavily” when found by emergency services. The court was told Ms Starr had been sheltering at the abandoned hotel while she worked with the Department of Child Protection in Geraldton on unrelated matters. Magistrate Angus Hockton said he was concerned Ms Starr would return to the Batavia Motor Inne if stable housing was not found, putting her and her partner at further risk of harm, but that there appeared to be a “degree of self-defence” in her actions. As police did not oppose her release, he granted her bail on the condition she not contact or approach her partner, and also prohibited her from returning to the Batavia Motor Inne. Ms Starr is due back in court on July 7.