A BEAUTICIAN has been savagely wounded by an axe-wielding man believed to be her husband in an attack at Westfield Fountain Gate.
Police arrested a man following the attack, at a beauty salon at the Narre Warren shopping centre, just after 10am.
Hasan Zaman, owner of The Beauty and Brow Parlour said his employees called security and police as their colleague was attacked.
“She couldn’t talk, she was badly beaten,” he said.
“I don’t know what he was thinking, a normal person cannot do this … you can’t beat people in this country.”
He said the incident could have been even worse had she not been at work.
“It was lucky it was in the shopping centre, we could take immediate action and he didn’t run away.”
Mr Zaman said both he and his employees would be doing all they could for the victim.
The woman, believed to be in her 30s, was taken to The Alfred hospital in a serious but stable condition with injuries to her upper body.
The Alfred has confirmed the woman has been admitted and says she is now in a stable condition.
Mr Zaman said she had separated from her husband in the past year and was living with her two high-school-aged children.
Victoria Police spokeswoman Belinda Batty said the exact cause of the incident is being investigated.
“It is believed parties are known to each other,” she said in a statement.
Investigators are believed to be interviewing the man at the nearby Narre Warren Police Station — no charges had been laid by 2.45pm.
Businesses around The Beauty and Brow Parlour have been cordoned off while police investigate.
Witness Trevor told 3AW it was a chaotic scene in the mall.
“There was a bit of pandemonium there until security and the other police got on site,” he said.
An assistant manager at a nearby Jewellery store, Tracey Wilson, said staff were shocked.
“All we heard was yelling and screaming,” she said.
“I ran out and heard somebody say ‘call security’.
“Then we heard there had been an axing of a staff member from one of the stores.
“(It has made me feel) a bit on edge.”
The salon is expected to open later this afternoon.
The woman had separated from her husband in the past year and was living with her two high-school-aged children.
Online Source: The News