Charges filed after bloodied man found fighting for life in Australia Fair shopping centre toilet

A man has been charged with grievous bodily harm after allegedly stabbing another man who was found with chest injuries in the toilet of a Gold Coast shopping centre.

Raymond Wilkinson, 42, was allegedly stabbed in the chest during an altercation with another man on Welch Street in Southport at around 12.20pm on Friday.

Mr Wilkinson then stumbled to the nearby Australia Fair shopping centre before collapsing on the floor of a public toilet.

He was discovered by a citizen who called emergency services.

While Mr Wilkinson underwent emergency surgery on his chest injuries, police launched a massive manhunt for his suspected attacker, eventually arresting a 43-year-old man in a Miami suburb on the Gold Coast late Friday night.

He was charged with grievous bodily harm, possession of a relevant substance and possession of drug paraphernalia and was remanded in custody to appear at Southport Local Court on September 10.

The victim was found clinging to his life before undergoing surgery at the hospital and has been in stable condition since then.

Emergency services were called to the Australia Fair shopping centre on Marine Parade in Southport at around 12.20pm on Friday.

The venue is across the road from the Gold Coast Show, which attracted thousands of people to Broadwater Parklands in temperatures of 31°C.

In March this year, a young woman was stabbed to death at the Pacific Fair shopping centre on the corner of Hooker Boulevard and Gold Coast Highway in Broadbeach.

The woman, in her twenties, was found to have two stab wounds.

There have also been serious knife incidents at shopping centres in Melbourne and Sydney, including the gruesome deaths of six people at Westfield Bondi Junction in April.