The Te Aroha house where a 2-year-old was stabbed. Photo / Herald on Sunday
A teenage mother-of-two has been charged with stabbing her toddler son in the stomach with a boning knife.
Kim Gillian Knoll, 19, appeared before Hamilton District Court on Friday charged with assault on a child and was released on bail.
The young mother, who emigrated from South Africa
to the Waikato town of Te Aroha two years ago, is alleged to have stabbed 2-year-old Lashawn in an incident the police have described as "very strange".
The toddler was still recovering in Waikato Hospital yesterday after suffering a single wound to the lower abdomen from the 15cm blade on Monday afternoon.
After several days being interviewed as a "person of interest" by police, Knoll was arrested on Thursday and spent the night in a mental health clinic before her court appearance.
Police are working with CYF, but, at this stage, Knoll's older child has not been taken into custody.
As part of her bail conditions, she is not allowed contact with children aged under 16 or to return to the Centennial Ave home where the attack occurred.
Knoll was not at her bail address at a caravan in the Te Aroha Holiday Park when the Herald on Sunday visited yesterday.
Her father Reginald said the family was "trying to make sense of the situation" but he was confident his grandson would recover fully.
Although the family had lived at the home for two years, neighbours knew little about Knoll other than she worked at a meat-processing factory.
Detective Sergeant Rod Carpinter, of Matamata-Piako CIB, said Lashawn was an "unbelievable little man" who was fortunate the knife missed vital organs. "All the nurses want to take him home. He's well and truly on the road to recovery. Our number one concern is the safety and wellbeing of the children."
Further medical checks on Lashawn would be made next week.
Carpinter said further charges against Knoll were likely.
