A 13-year-old girl has been charged with murder over the fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old girl in the NSW Lake Macquarie Region.
Emergency services were called to Euston Close in Edgeworth about 10.20pm yesterday and found the 14-year-old with a stab wound to her torso.
She was treated at the scene and taken to John Hunter Hospital, where she later died in the operating theatre.
Police are yet to formally identify the 14-year-old.
NSW Police Superintendent Tracy Chapman said both girls were exchange students from China and had only met eight days ago when they began staying with a host family.
The hosts were a couple, a man and a woman aged in their 50s, and the girls had been attending a local school as part of an exchange program.
The girls were due to return to China on August 16.
Chapman said the female host heard a “commotion” in one of the rooms before she found the older girl with a stab wound.
“No doubt this is a shock and a significant event in their lives,” Chapman said.
A knife was found at the scene which Chapman said appears to have been taken from a kitchen drawer.
She said police believe this was the weapon used to inflict the fatal injury.
A crime scene was established at the scene and investigations remain ongoing.
Chapman said there were “obvious complexities” regarding the language barrier while attempting to contact family overseas.
Strike Force Agnes has been formed alongside homicide detectives to investigate the incident.
Other students and teachers will be questioned as police try to piece together what led to the alleged murder eight days into the girls knowing each other.
Neighbours told 9News the street in Newcastle’s western suburbs was usually a quite, peaceful place, and they were shocked by the death.
“It’s such a quiet street and we never have any any problems here. And everyone just goes about their daily business,” one said.
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