A woman accused of smashing her relative’s skull in with a pink-handled hammer, as he lay in a Sydney hospital bed, terrorised neighbours at her harbourside home including hacking at a door, locals say.
Viki Graham, 46, allegedly approached her 63-year-old relative’s bedside at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, drew a hammer, and bashed it into the right side of his forehead just after midnight on Thursday.
The man remains in a critical condition in hospital.
Graham lived, until her arrest, in a waterside unit provided by NSW Housing in Balmain.
On Friday morning, the quiet Trouton Street was crawling with detectives who were going door-to-door interviewing Graham’s neighbours.
It was not the first time they had paid such a visit.
Police were called, in 2022, after Graham allegedly terrified the elderly neighbour who lives directly above her.
A local said Graham damaged the older woman’s door.
“This was very scary,” the local said.
“There was an older woman in there, about 80 years old, can you imagine?”
The door, one flight above Graham’s unit, shows heavy scars in the wood.
Court records show Graham never entered a plea to the charge of intimidation, stalking, or harassment.
She was convicted in her absence, fined $880 and placed on a two-year apprehended violence order to protect the neighbour.
Still, one local, who asked to remain anonymous out of concern for their safety, was shocked by Graham’s latest alleged attack.
The local said Graham had been a difficult neighbour, who had salvaged downed signposts from the streets and hauled them in to the courtyard of the unit block.
“I saw her carry this down here, one-handed, about a year ago. I can barely pick it up. She is powerful,” the local said.
The signpost, with concrete still clinging to one end, weighs at least 50 kilograms. There are many such pieces of debris collected by Graham and stacked at the unit block.
Inside a cupboard, the local said, she had stacked pieces of beds and luggage, a chainsaw and a carpet knife.
On Thursday, the court heard she had only a minor history with the law, and nothing since 2022.
Graham had allegedly called out, after attacking her relative in his hospital bed on Thursday, that he had “stolen my brother’s ashes”.
Police had said they were investigating whether an estate dispute was at the centre of allegations that Judge Judith Sweeney described as “gratuitously violent” and “unprovoked”.
Graham asked the judge to release her from custody, on bail, because she had anxiety and a sore arm.
She also claimed to have worked at the Cat and Fiddle Hotel in Balmain.
But the pub’s management said they had not heard of Graham since taking over the business about three years ago.
Sweeney refused to release Graham to bail, saying there was nothing that could ease the risk she posed to the community.
Back at Graham’s residence, the local said he believed Graham did not hold a job at the pub, and questioned even if she had allegedly attacked her hospitalised relative over her brother’s ashes.
“She’s a liar, and an alcoholic,” the local said.
“We all know that about her.”
Graham will remain in custody until her next appearance in June at least.
She is charged with one count of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, which carries a maximum 25 years in prison if found guilty.
The NSW Police homicide squad remains on stand-by in case her relative dies.
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