Coles will stop selling kitchen knives after the stabbing of one its employees in a south-east Queensland supermarket – an alleged assault that prompted the state’s premier to promise further crackdowns on youth crime.
Claudia Campomayor Watt, 63, was allegedly stabbed in the back on Monday while working at a Coles in Ipswich’s Yamanto Central shopping centre. The knife was taken from the supermarket’s shelves.
She remains in hospital in a critical but stable condition.
A 13-year-old boy was charged with attempted murder.
On Wednesday, Queensland police appealed to the public for information in relation to the actions of the alleged offender.
“It is understood the 13-year-old boy charged with attempted murder may have been walking along the Cunningham Highway between Ripley and the Yamanto exit prior to the incident between 1pm and 2.30pm on [Monday],” police said in a statement.
“To assist investigations, detectives would like to speak to anyone who may have observed him, has dashcam footage or had any interaction with the boy.”
A spokesperson for Coles said on Wednesday that the company had “made the decision to withdraw its range of kitchen knives for sale from supermarkets across Australia”.
“Coles complies with all legislation regarding the sale of kitchen knives, and this withdrawal is being taken out of an abundance of caution as we conduct a review,” a statement said.
“The safety of our team members and customers is our number one priority across all aspects of our business.”
In a statement, industry groups the Australian Retailers Association and National Retail Association backed the move and said “our thoughts are with the injured worker and her coworkers”.
“We fully support retailers who are taking initiatives to improve safety for staff and commend Coles for taking swift action in response to the recent incident in [Queensland],” they said .
The alleged assault has led to persistent questioning of the premier, David Crisafulli, who took power last October with pledges to crack down on a what he called a youth crime crisis.
On Tuesday and again on Wednesday, he promised to make “many more” changes to the hardline youth justice laws his government has enacted – which impose adult penalties on young people accused of certain serious offences and carry mandatory life sentences for young offenders convicted of murder, with a non-parole period of 20 years.
Much of Crisafulli’s election campaign was built on his promise to implement some of the strictest youth crime laws in the democratic world, including the “adult crime, adult time” legislation.
The premier has said these laws would “act as a deterrent”.
While speaking to media in Cairns on Wednesday, Crisafulli was asked if it was a “mistake” or “loophole” that attempted murder did not fall under his tough new laws.
The premier said an expert panel would review that charge and many others with a view to recommending further crackdowns on a “generation of hardcore repeat untouchables”.
“I want Queenslanders to know: there will be more changes,” he said. “And the second tranche of the ‘making Queensland safer’ laws is certainly not going to be the last. There will be further reform in 2025, in fact there will be legislative change in 2025 – and it can’t come soon enough.”
Some experts have rejected government claims that the laws would act as a deterrent or reduce crime.
Queensland is among the only jurisdictions in the democratic world to impose adult penalties on children. In extreme cases, children as young as 10 could face mandatory life sentences.
The number of children under 14 in adult police watch houses in Queensland has risen 50% in 12 months.
Asked if he was concerned that the youth crime crackdown would not act as a deterrent but only lead to higher incarceration rates, Crisfulli replied that his focus was on there being fewer victims of crime.
