UPDATE MONDAY 7.15PM: A woman, 22, has been charged with serious offences after she stole a car and crashed it on the Calder Freeway near Kyneton yesterday.
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The Melbourne resident was visited in hospital by a Bendigo magistrate and remanded until she appears at Kyneton Magistrate's Court next Monday.
The charges against her include robbery, theft of a motor vehicle, threat to inflict injury, evading police plus a number of traffic offences.
The woman stayed at Bendigo Health overnight under observation, though she sustained minor physical injuries from the Calder crash.
Police will transport the woman to the Melbourne Custody Centre tonight and will transfer her tomorrow to the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre where she will remain until her court appearance.
Kyneton Police Sergeant Geoff Neil said it was lucky that Sunday's events ended safely.
UPDATE SUNDAY 8:50PM: The woman who stole then crashed a car on the Calder Freeway is still in hospital and will likely stay the night under observation, police say.
Police have not yet questioned the woman in relation to events earlier today.
UPDATE SUNDAY 6.10PM: The woman who crashed a stolen car on the Calder Freeway near Kyneton is in police custody at Bendigo Health and will be interviewed shortly.
Detective Steve Atkinson said she was likely to be charged with a series of offences including robbery, making threats, theft of a motor vehicle and traffic offences.
The offences took place this afternoon starting at Castlemaine Railway Station about 2pm when the woman approached another young woman who was sitting in her car and demanded she hand her the keys to her car.
The woman made threats that she had a knife, although she did not produce one.
The victim gave her the keys to the car and the woman drove off.
A Highway Patrol unit in the area spotted the woman in the stolen vehicle heading towards Melbourne on the Calder Freeway and attempted to intercept the car.
Detective Atkinson said it was a short pursuit lasting no more than 30 seconds.
He said the car then veered left off the road and came to a stop on the embankment.
The woman suffered minor injuries.
"We believe that the female hasn’t crashed as a result of being pursued by police," Detective Atkinson said.
He said this was because the woman later told police she veered off the road in an attempt to self harm.
UPDATE SUNDAY 5.50PM: Police are examining the car that crashed into an embankment on the Calder Freeway earlier this afternoon.
Sergeant Rob Short said the car was towed to Castlemaine Police Station and the scene of the crash had been cleared.
Traffic is now flowing as usual.
EARLIER: A WOMAN in her mid 20s is recovering at Kyneton Hospital after stealing a car and crashing it into an embankment on the Calder Freeway.
Emergency crews are at the scene of the crash and police are directing traffic through one lane of the Calder Freeway on the Melbourne bound side.
Sergeant Geoff Neil said the incident began more than an hour ago in Castlemaine when the woman robbed another young woman near the railway station.
The woman made threats that she had a knife but did not produce one.
She stole the woman's car and drove onto the Calder towards Melbourne.
Police tried to intercept the offender.
The car veered off the road near the Kyneton exit and narrowly missed large trees before coming to rest on a fallen stump.
Sergeant Neil said the woman attempted to take her own life.
The woman received minor injuries and was taken to Kyneton Hospital and will later be transferred to a Melbourne hospital.
Three fire trucks and several police units attended the scene.
Melbourne bound traffic near the Kyneton exit is moving very slowly as authorities clear the scene.
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