Trail of destruction follows slashing attack

A KNIFE-WIELDING shoplifter has left chaos and destruction in his wake after slashing a woman at a Biggera Waters supermarket.

According to Senior Sergeant Marc Kimber, the man had lunged at her with two knives.

It is believed the female manager of Hollywell Road Market, in the Metro Markets shopping centre, confronted the man around 12.30pm yesterday before he slashed at her.

The 29-year-old woman was left with two lacerations to her right thigh as the man fled towards Fiona St.

She was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital in a stable condition.

The alleged offender then ran to 83-year-old Mary Stevenson’s house, where he smashed his way through her front window.

“I honestly don’t know what happened,” said Ms Stevenson, who was watching TV when he crashed through the glass.

“I think he was as shocked as I was, I bolted one way and he bolted the other way.”

He ran out through her laundry before jumping over a 2m wooden fence into a neighbour’s yard, she said.

A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said she saw the fleeing man appear on her front lawn, where police arrested him.

She said she could hear the commotion coming from her neighbour’s house and said she watched police yell at the man before throwing him to the ground.

Another neighbour said at least eight police officers helped to catch the man.

He said in his 25 years at Biggera Waters he hadn’t seen anything like it.

A 45-year-old man was expected to be charged overnight.