KEY POINTS:
A woman was slashed several times with a knife in Manurewa last night during the third stabbing in the suburb in four days.
Detectives are at a loss to explain the sudden upsurge in violent knife attacks after the stabbing murders of 22-year-old Saishwar Krishna Naidu at his parents' Clendon dairy on Friday and Pihema Clifford Cameron, 15, on Southview Place on Saturday.
Detective Sergeant Steve Brewer of the Counties-Manukau crime squad told the Herald last night that a 36-year-old woman was undergoing surgery for "at least four" slash wounds to her neck, one of which was almost fatal. "We're lucky that we haven't had another homicide," he said. "The major wound is very close to her jugular vein."
Mr Brewer said the woman was stabbed during a domestic dispute with a man who was not her partner.
"They've had a fight and he's attacked her with a knife and has slashed her a number of times around the neck. She's got multiple slash wounds to the neck."
The woman was in a stable condition in Middlemore Hospital before her surgery.
A 25-year-old man will appear in the Manukau District Court today charged with attempted murder.
The latest three incidents occurred within a 3km radius of one another.
"This is unusual," Mr Brewer said. "The level of violence is horrendous.
"It's just strange that we've had three serious stabbings - two resulting in death - and this third one that resulted in serious injuries but it just happens like that sometimes," he said.
