Mitchell Park woman faces Ballarat Magistrates' Court for knife attack at Stockland Wendouree

Mitchell Park woman Peta O'Donnell, 29, faced the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Thursday charged with intentionally causing injury after she slashed a woman in the face on May 20 last year, believing the woman had slept with her partner.

The wheels for the violent confrontation were set in motion when the victim sent O'Donnell a text message arranging to meet.

"Me and you need to see each other to sort this out," it read.

"I'm done with the f***ing lies, the bull***t, the drama."

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Jack Fletcher told the court the victim believed it would be safe to meet at the shopping centre but when she arrived about 2.40pm heard a voice call out: "Watch your back."

When the two women met in the car park they "lunged at each other" and O'Donnell swung at the woman with a steak knife, causing a 2 centimetre cut on her left cheek and 4cm cut at the rear of her skull.

The women wrestled to the ground and the accused punched the victim in the side of the head as two members of the public attempted to separate the pair.

One onlooker picked up the knife and threw it out of reach.

The incident, which was captured on the victim's teenage daughter's mobile phone, left the woman "bleeding extensively".

She was helped by bystanders and was later taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital to have plastic surgery for her injuries.

The accused fled in her car.

At 10pm that evening, O'Donnell turned herself in at Ballarat Police Station and during the interview admitted, "things got out of hand and escalated quickly," although denied using the knife.

Defence counsel for O'Donnell said she got the knife out of her car before the meeting for protection, although did not bring it for the purpose of harming the victim.

"She thought the complainant may be armed," the defence said.

"She was at the shopping centre already. [The knife] would have been in her vehicle before she even knew she was meeting the complainant."

Magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz replied: "So what is she doing with a steak knife in the car? That's the million dollar question."

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Defence for O'Donnell said the accused suffered a multitude of untreated mental health conditions and noted a psychologist's report that her episodes could include "loss of contact with reality ... and an inability to see the consequences of her actions".

"In no way does it excuse the behaviour but it certainly puts it in context," she said.

The court also heard the accused suffered a miscarriage as a result of the incident.

O'Donnell, who had been sentenced to good behaviour by the court four months earlier for similar offending, sat quietly throughout the proceedings and was noted in the psychologist's report to have expressed remorse: "I wish it hadn't happened, if I could take it back I would."

But Senior Constable Fletcher said the attack was premeditated.

"It's understood what has been put forward by defence ... however this is a woman who is at a shopping centre [and] received a text message and communication," he said.

"We now have an arranged meeting. We have a time frame that allowed time for thought."

Magistrate Mykytowycz said she needed more time to decide on O'Donnell's sentence.

"I haven't made up my mind ... because this is so serious," she said.

"I can't imagine how frightening it must have been in real time.

"She's very lucky she didn't kill the victim. It only takes one knife wound through the heart to kill someone."

The matter will return to court on February 7.

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