Suzan Gonulalan, 31, from Pascoe Vale is alleged to have assaulted a pregnant 30-year-old Muslim woman inside an Epping shopping complex in Melbourne's north on Thursday before attacking 26-year-old Ealaf Al-Easawi about 10 minutes later.
Gonulalan was led into Melbourne's Magistrate Court on Wednesday night sobbing, telling her lawyer she was stressing out for her mum.
"I'm upset about my mum, sorry your honour. No one believes me how much it hurts me," she said.
"Everytime I hear my mum's voice, I lose it and I start to cry."
The court was told of Gonulalan's schizophrenia diagnosis before Magistrate Christina Windisch remanded her in custody.
"I dont think I'm going to be alright for tomorrow. This is too much," Gonulalan said.
She will reappear before the court on Thursday.
Ms Al-Easawi claims Gonulalan ambushed her and slapped her with a closed fist to the left side of her face and chest before shoving her to the floor.
The childcare worker had been grocery shopping on her break and said she had never seen her attacker before, and the incident left her shaking and barely able to talk and breathe.
The 26-year-old says she is now too scared to leave her home and has trouble sleeping due to body aches, bruises and back pain.
"I feel terrified, traumatised and still can't believe what happened to me," Ms Al-Easawi told AAP.
"The scene won't come out of my head. It keeps repeating itself in my mind - how I got attacked."
Victoria Police charged Gonulalan on Wednesday with intentionally and recklessly causing injury, unlawful assault and aggravated assault.
It is alleged she targeted the victims because of their head coverings.
Investigators are also examining a report of online threats being made against one of the victims.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was quizzed on Wednesday about the Islamophobic incident, offering his first comments almost a week after the assault.
"Any attack on people on the basis of their faith or who they are is reprehensible, and I certainly hope that the perpetrators get tracked down and face the full force of the law," he told reporters.
Mr Albanese also denied that Australians view Islamophobia differently to anti-Semitism, pointing to the appointment of a special envoy on Islamophobia.
When asked about political leaders' slow response to the attack, Ms Al-Easawi said it caused fear among the community.
"It causes this terrible thing inside that person feeling, 'Oh, why aren't they condemning this?'" she said.
"I am part of this country, and this country is a multicultural country."
Australian cricket star Usman Khawaja on Tuesday accused Mr Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of being silent over Islamophobic attacks and favouring other faiths, before the leaders eventually made comments.
The "atrocious" attacks will be "swept under the rug like all attacks against the Islamic community", Khawaja said in an Instagram post.
When asked on Tuesday by AAP for a comment on the attacks following his prompt responses to a spate of anti-Semitic incidents, Mr Albanese's office pointed to a statement released by federal assistant minister for multicultural affairs Julian Hill.
Mr Dutton said the violence was unacceptable, egregious and a disgrace and of particular concern was that one of the victims was pregnant.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan condemned the "horrific" attacks when asked by reporters, calling the incidents "evil hatred".
Australia's Special Envoy to combat Islamophobia Aftab Malik said the "disgusting" attacks on the women brought the hidden cancer of Islamophobia to the surface.
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