Woman may be charged over stabbing claim

A Hamilton woman who claimed she was the victim of a random knife attack in the City's eastern suburbs on Sunday night may face charges of making a false complaint.

Acting Senior Sergeant Neil Faulkner said today police and ambulance staff were called to reports of a woman in her 20s being stabbed while walking home in suburban Hillcrest about 8pm Sunday night.

"She was taken to Waikato Hospital by ambulance for treatment while considerable resources were deployed in the area looking for her alleged assailant, a man described as wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt.

"The search involved several officers and a dog unit who all returned empty handed.

"It wasn't until two staff interviewing the victim at the hospital became concerned about the her story that it was able to be established the woman had stabbed herself in the stomach."

Mr Faulkner said to compound the issue police had only just attended another call where a man claimed to have taken several pills and armed himself with a firearm.

"Both cases ended up requiring considerable resources from both police and ambulance at a time when a serious stabbing and a suspicious death were being investigated," he said.

"Should either false complainant end up being charged we hope it will send a clear message to those contemplating wasting the resources and time of emergency services."

- NZPA