A man accused of stabbing an ex-partner in an attack outside an inner-Sydney gym has been arrested after an overnight police manhunt.
The 45-year-old handed himself in at Dee Why police station at 7.50am on Thursday, nearly 24 hours after the attack across the city in Alexandria.
Police said the 39-year-old woman was knifed in the neck, head and back in the carpark outside Crunch Fitness on Wednesday afternoon.
The woman was treated by paramedics before being taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition.
Detective Superintendent Rodney Hart said officers were treating the incident as a targeted attack.
A witness said the woman was helped upstairs back into the gym, where staff began first aid. Source: AAP / Sam Lock
“We believe they had been in the past – earlier this year – been in a very short domestic relationship,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
A kitchen-style knife was thought to be used in the attack, Hart added.
“It’s horrendous what has happened to this poor victim,” he said.
Witnesses reported hearing a woman scream.
“When I was about to open the door, up to the gym, I heard a scream … it was not a normal scream,” one woman told reporters.
The witness said she did not see the man in the carpark when she arrived.
A second man stepped in to stop the attack.
Another witness saw the woman helped upstairs into the gym, where staff began first aid.
“She ran all the way upstairs, she was bleeding from the neck, from her ears,” he said.
Police remained at the scene of the attack on Wednesday night. Source: AAP / Sam Lock
One man leaving the gym told AAP he knew the woman and said she visited the gym most mornings.
The alleged attacker has been transferred to the Manly police station but is yet to be charged.