source : the age
A woman allegedly smashed her relative’s skull with a pink hammer as he lay in a hospital bed in Sydney’s inner west – telling shocked nurses “he stole my brother’s ashes” in what a judge has called a “gratuitously violent” and unprovoked alleged attack.
Viki Graham, 46, allegedly walked into Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Camperdown just after midnight carrying a bundle of clothes, a local bail court heard on Thursday.
A police fact sheet, tendered to the court as the bar worker from the Cat & Fiddle pub in Balmain requested release on Thursday, said Graham went up to ward nine before being confronted by the night nurse.
The nurse told Graham it was outside of visiting hours, but she refused to leave and allegedly said “I just want to talk to him”.
Graham allegedly walked over to the bedside of the 63-year-old man, pulled out a pink-handled hammer, and struck him on the right side of his forehead.
“I smashed him with the hammer. He stole my brother’s ashes,” Graham allegedly called out.
‘I smashed him with the hammer. He stole my brother’s ashes.’
Viki Graham, according to a police fact sheet
The victim had a seizure as blood and air entered his brain through his broken skull, stopping his breathing. He was intubated and is in a critical condition.
Local Court Judge J Sweeney said it was a “gratuitously violent attack” spelled out in the police allegations.
“The facts are absolutely extraordinary,” Judge Sweeney said.
“It is a maximum penalty of 25 years, that is how seriously this offence is viewed by the legislature.”
Graham’s lawyers attempted to gain her release saying she suffered from anxiety and has nerve damage in her right arm.
But Judge Sweeney concluded there were no conditions that could mitigate the risk Graham posed to the community.
She was denied bail until June.
The man is on life support in the intensive care unit of the hospital after suffering serious injuries to the head. The NSW Police Homicide Squad was put on standby about 4am, amid concerns about the man’s condition.
Sydney Local Health District chief executive Deb Willcox described the patient as a “really lovely person” who has had a “reasonably” long stay in the hospital.
“This is just a terrible event,” she said. “The patient is well known to the staff who care about that person very much, and our primary interest is his wellbeing.”
Willcox said staff acted swiftly, and no other patient was impacted.
“Obviously, it’s a very distressing event for [staff] involved.”
Willcox said she would review how the incident was managed to identify any “learnings”.
Graham was taken to Newtown Police Station, where she was charged with grievous bodily harm. She was refused bail to appear in court on Thursday.
Visitors are not permitted on RPA’s general wards after 8pm, but staff can accommodate visiting family members after hours, and the emergency department’s doors are always open to the public.
“We are here to care for the community,” Willcox said. “Our staff are extremely capable. They’re trained for this kind of thing, and they [did] everything that was appropriate, and everybody is safe, except sadly for our dear patient.”
Several senior RPA clinicians said they were shocked that such an event had occurred at the hospital.
“This is extremely unsettling,” said one doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity. “I have never in my many years of practice here have ever heard of such a thing [happening] here.”
Staff said the hospital had a relatively high security presence, mainly to help manage patients with behavioural disturbances or drug-affected presentations.
But visiting hours on wards were essentially policed by nursing staff, who were instructed to ask members of the public to leave the premises after hours.
NSW hospitals are contending with escalating levels of violence and aggression, but a brutal assault allegedly perpetrated by a member of the public on a patient is extremely rare.
In June 2024, a security guard was allegedly stabbed, and several nurses were injured by a man in Westmead Hospital’s emergency department.
A recent survey found 88 per cent of nurses, midwives and carers had experienced violence in the previous year, with public hospital staff most commonly exposed.
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Daniel Lo Surdo is a breaking news reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He previously helmed the national news live blog for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.
