Teacher, 25, brutally attacked on her doorstep in an indigenous community feared for her safety WEEKS before the horrific assault
A teacher savagely attacked on her duplex doorstep after offering a man some water feared for her safety in the weeks leading up to the assault.
Rachel Middleton, 25, was lucky to survive after she was slashed across the face and stabbed in the stomach in the remote Queensland indigenous community of Lockhart River on Tuesday night.
Local resident Michael Ronald Giblet, 26, has since been charged with grievous bodily harm and assault.
Ms Middleton was flown to Cairns on an emergency Royal Flying Doctor Service flight early on Wednesday morning for surgery. It remains unknown if she will return to her teaching role.
Rachel Middleton was fortunate to survive this week after she was attacked in the remote Indigenous community Lockhart River
Rachel Middleton was a teacher at the Lockhart State School before the attack
Hayden Emery, Ms Middleton's long term partner, felt the vicious attack was inevitable, given the level of violence from some residents in the area.
'The kids always break into the school. If there's no security there, every single holidays the school gets trashed,' he told The Australian.
'Sometimes we don't interact with them , because it doesn't seem safe.
'There are people who get drunk often....others get angry and drunk and walk down the street, threatening people'.
The couple, originally from Bribie Island, have been living in Lockhart River, which is 765km north of Cairns, for about four years.
Ms Middleton started her career as an educator in the remote area, staying on longer than many other teachers posted to hardship communities.
Wayne Butcher, the Lockhart River mayor, linked this week's incident to an influx of 'sly grog' in recent months, aided by extra money payments from COVID-19 relief programs such as JobSeeker.
Another teacher is believed to have recently gone on stress leave due to increasing security concerns.
The woman, who lived across the road from Ms Middleton, was said to have felt intimidated by a number of youths who repeatedly threatened her in her own yard.
Teacher Rachel Middleton (pictured left) with long term partner Hayden Emery