GoFundMe appeal at $60,000 for Phillip Island attack victims

A PHILLIP Island mother who was allegedly stabbed seven times while protecting her 10-year-old son in Melbourne says her only thought during the terrifying attack was keeping her children safe.

Cherie-Ann Holt, 46, was allegedly attacked outside Melbourne West Police Headquarters in Spencer Street last Tuesday, August 25, after 27-year-old Jerry Sowood allegedly punched her son in the face.

Holt had travelled from Phillip Island to Melbourne with her son, who has an extremely rare and inoperable brain tumor, ahead of a brain scan scheduled for the following day.

When she saw her son being attacked, Holt said she immediately put herself between him and the alleged attacker.

“I yelled at my boys to get out of there and run. I stood between the man and my children because there was absolutely no way I was going to let him get to them again,” she said.

“That’s when he turned his attention to me.”

Holt said she was punched in the face, grabbed in a headlock and repeatedly stabbed with scissors.

“At some point I realised one of my boys hadn’t been able to run. I could hear him screaming, ‘Mum, Mum,’ in absolute horror.”

Holt suffered a broken leg, eye injuries and multiple puncture wounds and remains in the Royal Melbourne Hospital recovering from her injuries. Her son was taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital.

Her brother, Kirk Holt, said Cherie-Ann was recovering but remained very sore after doctors stitched her final wounds.

He said the children had endured several difficult nights following the attack.

“They’re missing mum. They want to be with mum, and they’re really worried about how she is and just very wary about people walking along the street,” he told the ABC.

Holt said her own injuries were secondary to protecting her children.

“Being attacked myself was terrifying, but that wasn’t what I was thinking about,” she said.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen to me, but I knew I had to keep that man away from my child.

“As their mum, protecting my boys was the only thing that mattered.”

Several members of the public intervened during the attack, including Brian Bradley, who helped restrain the alleged attacker.

Bradley said he acted on instinct.

“It’s just instinct, just what a man should be doing. Instead of picking up a phone and recording, it was just gut instinct to jump in and assist people in need,” he told Channel 7.

Holt said she was deeply grateful to the men who stepped into the dangerous situation.

“There will never be enough words to explain how grateful I am to you men,” she said.

Kirk has established a GoFundMe campaign to help the family meet the financial costs of the attack. It has so far raised almost $60,000 towards an $80,000 goal.

He said Cherie-Ann, a single mother who is not currently working, faced significant financial and emotional pressure while continuing to support her son through cancer treatment and caring for her other children.

Sowood has been charged with affray, two counts of intentionally causing injury, unlawful assault, conduct endangering life and conduct endangering serious injury.

He did not apply for bail and is refusing legal assistance. He was remanded in custody to return to court in November.

Kirk said the attack had also left the family concerned about safety in Melbourne’s CBD.

“We’re supposed to be one of the top, most livable cities in the world — not if you’re scared to go out on the streets it’s not,” he told the ABC.

You can access the ‘Support a Mum and Her Children After Melbourne CBD Attack’ GoFundMe appeal HERE.