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A “hero” who rushed to the aid of 14-year-old schoolboy who was being attacked by a group of teenagers inside Mernda train station was killed in a “savage attack” during evening peak hour, police say.
Homicide squad Detective Acting Inspector Nigel L’Estrange said police were still investigating the circumstances around the attack, but he said four offenders approached the schoolboy to try to rob him at about six in the evening on Friday.
“That ended up in a serious assault where they started physically assaulting him and pushing him onto the ground.”
He said several bystanders tried to step in to help.
“Our victim was one of those bystanders who stepped in and picked up the 14-year-old and walked him away, walked him outside the train station,” L’Estrange said.
He said the four teens followed them out of the station, then ambushed them, with “fists, kicking and also used weapons”. Police believe there was more than one weapon used and recovered a machete nearby.
“As a result of that, he received some fatal stab wounds.”
Paramedics found the 22-year-old local man unconscious, and despite attempts to revive him, he died at the scene. Police said the victim worked as a security guard, but he was not a public safety officer and was off-duty.
L’Estrange called it a tragic situation, where a good Samaritan was trying to do the right thing.
“He intervened, tried to protect this 14-year-old school boy, hasn’t been aggressive, and as a result of his interaction, he’s now lost his life.”
“It’s cowardly, it’s shocking. It’s not something we want to see in our streets.”
He said the four male teens were known to police, but they weren’t out on bail. The new adult time for violent crime laws, which came into effect eight days ago, might mean the offenders face adult sentences and adult courts. Offences including recklessly causing injury and armed robbery are covered by the new laws.
The alleged offenders ran from the station after the attack. Three were caught nearby at the Mernda Shopping Centre a couple of hours later, and the fourth male was also taken into custody. One was taken to hospital with injuries from the attack, where he remains. The alleged offenders, a 16-year-old, two 17-year-olds and an 18-year-old, remain in police custody but have yet to be charged.
Whittlesea Local Area Commander Inspector Kate O’Neill said it “really breaks my heart to think that someone that was only trying to assist a teenage boy was so viciously killed. But I’m grateful that there are still members of the community who actually still help those in need.”
Even so, L’Estrange said he wanted good Samaritans to call Triple Zero before stepping in.
The attack, which happened only 10 minutes before public safety officers were scheduled to patrol the station, would not lead to a change in when PSOs would be deployed, O’Neill said.
O’Neill said PSOs had always patrolled the train station between 6pm and 2am.
She said police were working hard to ensure community safety was paramount, with police near the station “all day, all night”.
“I had police on the scene within three and a half minutes last night and offenders arrested a short time after.”
The 14-year-old target was “pretty shaken up” and had a broken nose, said L’Estrange.
Bridge Inn Road backs onto the railway station’s car park, which is opposite two early learning centres.
On Friday night, SES crews were seen with police and detectives scouring the area, which was cordoned off by police tape. Evidence markers were scattered along the ground, with one sitting next to a cap. Blood stained the floor of the train station.
A bloodied rag was seen on the ground outside the local MP’s office nearby.
One person, who was driving past the chaos as it was unfolding last night, said they saw people pushing and grabbing each other “until someone pulled out a machete and was waving it around”.
“There were lots of people running around the car park screaming,” they said.
Train services out of the Mernda Station were disrupted, with services replaced with buses on Friday night and into Saturday. Services resumed before 10am.
Mourners left flowers tied to a pole next to a bus stop at the train station on Saturday. A card tied to them read: “What a brave young man you are. I am so sorry this happened to you.”
The incident raised questions into whether protective service officers had been directed away from train stations to instead patrol shopping centres.
PSOs have had a nightly presence at train stations since 2010, when the Baillieu government was elected on a promise to put two at every station each night between 6pm and the final train service. Late last year the government announced it would pull nightly patrols from 120 low-crime stations, instead deploying groups of officers to monitor several stations in an area. The government has not yet said which stations would be considered “low crime”.
Opposition police spokesperson Brad Battin said the death “highlights the tragic consequences of Labor’s failure to tackle youth crime and get dangerous machetes off our streets”.
“With nearly 2000 vacancies on police rosters, more than 40 stations closed or operating on reduced hours, and PSOs to be stripped from 120 train stations, Victorians continue to pay the price for Labor’s community safety failures,” Battin said.
“Every Victorian deserves to feel and be safe in their home, and when going about daily life.”
When asked about the incident at a press conference earlier on Saturday, Victorian minister Mary-Anne Thomas said that the behaviour was “completely and utterly unacceptable”.
“It’s really concerning, and my thoughts are with the family of the man who’s lost his life in this terrible, horrific way,” she said.
“It’s why our government is focused on driving down crime in the state. It’s why we banned machetes. But importantly, it’s why we’ve now introduced adult time for violent crime.
“I’m not going to comment on the particular case because it is obviously an active, live police investigation, but the message is simple to young people – if you commit violent crime, you will be serving adult time.”
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Nicole Precel is an education reporter at The Age. She was previously an audio video producer. She is also a documentary maker. Get in touch at nicole.precel@theage.com.auConnect via X, Facebook or email.From our partners
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