Good Samaritan killed in attack at Mernda train station
Police announced that a “hero” who rushed to help a 14-year-old student who was attacked by a group of young people at Mernda train station was killed in a “savage attack” in the evening.
Homicide Detective Acting Inspector Nigel L’Estrange said police were still investigating the circumstances surrounding the attack, but said four criminals approached the schoolboy at around six o’clock on Friday evening and tried to rob him.
“This culminated in a serious assault where they began physically assaulting him and pushing him to the ground.”
He said many people in the area tried to intervene to help.
“Our victim was one of the bystanders who intervened and picked up the 14-year-old boy and took him out of the train station,” L’Estrange said.
He said the four youths followed them out of the station, then ambushed them “using punches, kicks and guns”. Police believe multiple weapons were used and a machete was seized nearby.
“As a result he suffered some fatal stab wounds.”
Paramedics found the 22-year-old local man unconscious and despite efforts to resuscitate him, he died at the scene. Police said the victim worked as a security guard but was not a public safety officer and was off duty.
L’Estrange called it a tragic situation in which a good Samaritan tried to do the right thing.
“He intervened, tried to protect this 14-year-old schoolboy, was not aggressive, and as a result of the interaction he has now lost his life.”
“It’s cowardly, it’s shocking. It’s not something we want to see on our streets.”
He said the four male youths were known to the police but they were not released on bail. The new adult period for violent crime laws, which came into force eight days ago, could mean offenders face adult sentences and adult courts. Crimes such as negligent homicide and armed robbery are included in the scope of the new law.
After the attack, the suspects fled the station. Three men were caught a few hours later at the nearby Mernda Shopping Centre, and a fourth man was also detained. One person injured in the attack was taken to hospital and remained there. The suspects, one 16-year-old, two 17-year-olds and one 18-year-old, remain in police custody but have not yet been charged.
Whittlesea Local Area Commander Inspector Kate O’Neill said: “It truly breaks my heart to think that someone who was just trying to help a young boy was killed so brutally. But I am grateful that there are still members of the community who step in to help those in need.”
Even so, L’Estrange said he wants good Samaritans to call Triple Zero before stepping in.
O’Neill said the attack, which occurred just 10 minutes before public safety officers were scheduled to patrol the station, would not result in a change in when PSOs would be deployed.
O’Neill said PSOs always patrol the train station between 6pm and 2am.
He said police were working hard to ensure the highest level of community safety and that police were near the station “all day, all night”.
“Last night I had the police on the scene within three and a half minutes and the criminals were arrested shortly afterwards.”
L’Estrange said the 14-year-old target was “pretty shaken up” and suffered a broken nose.
Bridge Inn Road is based on the train station car park opposite two early learning centres.
SES teams, together with police and detectives, were seen searching the area cordoned off with police tape. Evidence markers were scattered on the ground, and one was standing next to a hat. The floor of the train station was covered in blood.
A bloody rag was seen on the ground outside the local MP’s office nearby.
One person who passed by the chaos that ensued last night said they saw people pushing and grabbing each other “until someone pulled out a machete and waved it around”.
“There were a lot of people running screaming in the parking lot,” they said.
Train services from Mernda Station were disrupted and services were replaced by buses on Friday night and Saturday. Services resumed before 10 a.m.
Mourners left flowers tied to a pole next to the bus stop at the train station. A card attached to them read: “What a brave young man you are. I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
The incident raised questions about whether protective service officers were being diverted from train stations to patrolling shopping centres.
PSOs have had a nightly presence at train stations since 2010, when they were elected on the Baillieu government’s promise to put two at every station between 6pm and the last train service each night. late last year The government announced that it would withdraw It patrols 120 low-crime stations at night, instead assigning groups of officers to monitor several stations in an area. The government has not yet said which stations will be considered “low crime”.
Opposition police spokesman Brad Battin said the death “highlights the tragic consequences of Labour’s failure to tackle youth crime and remove dangerous machetes from our streets”.
“With nearly 2000 police vacancies, more than 40 stations closed or operating on reduced hours and PSOs removed from 120 train stations, Victorians continue to pay the price for Labour’s social safety failures,” Battin said.
“Every Victorian deserves to feel safe and secure in their home and in going about their daily lives.”
Asked about the incident at a press conference earlier on Saturday, Victorian minister Mary-Anne Thomas said the behavior was “completely and utterly unacceptable”.
“This is truly worrying and my thoughts are with the family of the man who lost his life in such a horrific way,” he said.
“That’s why our government is focused on reducing crime in the state. It’s why we’re banning machetes. But more importantly, it’s why we’re giving adult time for violent crimes.
“I will not comment on this particular case because this is clearly an active, live police investigation, but the message for young people is simple – if you commit a violent crime, you will serve the adult sentence.”
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