A grandmother will remain behind bars after being sentenced over the brutal stabbing attack on her daughter-in-law and grandson.

Sarah*, 60, appeared before Wollongong District Court on Friday via audiovisual link having pleaded guilty to two counts of domestic violence reckless wounding during the shocking incident on June 11, 2025, while claiming to have had an altered mental state due in part to taking weight-loss drug Ozempic.

Wearing prison greens and holding a tissue, she at several times sobbed while Judge Imad Abdul-Karim recounted the attack and handed down his sentence.

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The court found Sarah had followed her then 27-year-old daughter-in-law, Emily*, while she was driving her 10-year-old son JP* to a Judo class in Wongawilli, south of Wollongong, about 5.30pm.

She then overtook the mother, forcing her to pull the car over before putting on a pair of nylon gloves and arming herself with a knife which she used to stab the young boy in the neck.

Emily tried to stop her mother-in-law before she was also stabbed in the abdomen and her armpit.

Emily told the court she remembered Sarah telling her to “calm down, it’s just a joke”.

Abdul-Karim said JP remembered thinking he was “going to die ... (and felt) scared and worried for his mother”, which brought Sarah to tears.

A grandmother has been jailed after claiming weight-loss drug Ozempic played a role diminishing her mental state when she stabbed her daughter-in-law and grandson. Credit: David J. Phillips/AP

Sarah then ditched the knife while driving back to a nearby property where she lived in a granny flat. The court heard her flat was adjacent to a home where her son and Emily lived with the grandson.

Her son said the grandmother appeared “calm” while telling him what she had done. Police arrived soon after and arrested her.

Meanwhile, paramedics were racing the mother and son to hospital with serious injuries.

JP’s jugular artery had been severed and he was rushed into emergency surgery while Emily also spent time in intensive care. Both were released from hospital in the following days.

“I wanted to scare them, I was playing a game, I was joking,” Sarah told police during an interview just hours later.

“I just got the knife and I cut him (JP) .... I don’t know what came over me.”

She told police that she could not recall injuring Emily, adding she “can’t comprehend what I’ve done”. 

During a previous court appearance, Sarah said she had been experiencing “shaking and fuzziness”, side-effects from taking Ozempic which had been prescribed after breaking her wrist and rapidly gaining weight.

She claims mixing the weight loss drug with anti-depressants and medication to lower her cholesterol had in some way caused her to not only think clearly, but also forget large portions of the incident.

She appeared before Wollongong District Court and was sentenced to remain behind bars for the remainder of her sentence. Credit: 7NEWS

A doctor supported the claim before court, citing research that Ozempic could increase suicidal tendencies.

But prosecutors argued the doctor’s claims were sceptical at best and that there was no proof that the drug had impacted Sarah’s mental state.

“I accept the submission made by the Crown,” Abdul-Karim said.

Instead, he weighed on the destructive impact the incident had on the lives of Emily and JP.

Emily said she has been unable to return to work as a medical professional due to the lasting trauma, which has also left her afraid of sharp objects and blood.

She said she had “obtrusive memories” of holding her son’s neck to try and stem the bleeding.

“The scars are a daily reminder of the moment that fractured their lives,”  Abdul-Karim said.

Sarah’s defence argued she should be released from custody and serve her sentence under an intensive corrections order because she had shown genuine remorse and it was her first conviction.

While Abdul-Karim accepted she was remorseful for her actions, he noted he could not overlook the seriousness of the offending.

He was instead “generous” in taking into account mitigating circumstances such as Sarah’s father abandoning her at a young age and her decades-long battle with depression and anxiety.

She was ultimately sentenced to a maximum of two years and three months behind bars, with a non-parole period of 15 months, dated back to her being taken into custody on the night of the attack.

Sarah is eligible for release on September 10.

* Names changed due to legal reasons.