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A man who threatened to commit a massacre on Bourke Street and was later found with a “sharpened kitchen knife” in the Melbourne CBD had only just got out of prison, a court has heard.
On Saturday 31-year-old Luke Cecchin was denied bail in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, where he faces charges for threatening to kill, threatening to cause serious injury, carrying a controlled weapon and using carriage service to menace.
The court heard Cecchin twice called a Channel Nine newsroom on Thursday afternoon and told a journalist he was going to commit a massacre at 8pm that night, requesting they not tell police and instead attend the area to report on the supposed attack.
The journalist perceived the threats to be serious and legitimate and contacted police, who dispatched “an extensive number of police units” to find Cecchin, Detective Acting Sergeant Thomas Macafee told the court.
Cecchin was found at 7.30pm, half an hour before his deadline for the threatened massacre, inside a McDonald’s on Swanston Street. Inside a bag, he had a 30-centimetre kitchen knife and a pair of gloves.
“He would have had the capability of carrying out his threat … if police had not interjected,” Macafee said. The prosecution argued Cecchin posed an unacceptable risk to community safety if he received bail, even if bail would allow him to present to hospital for a mental health assessment.
The court heard that Cecchin had been released from custody just six days ago after serving three months in prison.
On May 19, two days before the alleged threats, Cecchin was taken into custody and sent to Barwon Heads emergency department for a mental health assessment after marking threats to harm people at Avalon Airport, Macafee said.
He was discharged by the regional hospital on May 20 and faced no charges over the airport incident.
The court heard that Cecchin had a significant criminal history, including long stints in prison for armed robberies. Macafee said Cecchin had breached bail conditions seven times since 2010.
Macafee said Cecchin suffered mental ill health, had used methamphetamine and abused both alcohol and marijuana in the past. He was living in short-term accommodation after leaving prison, and his family, with whom he had limited contact, did not want him staying with them.
“We believe that he is an unacceptable risk of release on bail of endangering the safety and welfare of other people,” Macafee said. “Given the substantial nature of the threats … and the situation relating to his mental health.”
Cecchin’s lawyer said the alleged offending happened in light of his mental concerns, and he should be bailed to receive treatment. Cecchin’s parents died while he was young and he had a “difficult childhood”, his lawyer said.
“He’s expressed he had thoughts of self-harm in the lead-up to these allegations,” she said.
In denying bail, Magistrate John Hardy said the government had made it clear – in both amendments to the Bail Act and public statements – that courts must protect the “safety of the community”.
“It’s also concerning it’s alleged he made comments referring to Bourke Street,” Hardy said. “One has to remember that – I’ll never use his name again – [a man] in early 2017 … drove down Bourke Street Mall and killed [six] people including a three-month-old baby boy.”
Hardy also noted that in 2018 Pellegrini’s icon Sisto Malaspina was fatally stabbed after Hassan Khalif Shire Ali stabbed three people in a murderous spree on Bourke Street.
“I’m satisfied there is high probability Mr Cecchin needs mental health treatment; my concern is that less than a week ago he was still in custody and he’s been released … and there doesn’t seem to be any supports,” Hardy said.
Hardy added that it was unlikely that Cecchin would receive mental health treatment while remanded in custody but the 31-year-old “represents an unacceptable risk to the community”.
“I’m not saying you were going to carry anything out, I simply don’t know,” Hardy told Cechin. “The risk to the community is too high to let you out on bail.”
Speaking again to Cecchin, Hardy said: “There’s always light at the end of the tunnel … Don’t do anything bad to yourself.”
Cecchin will face court again on May 29.
Angus Delaney is a reporter at The Age. Email him at angus.delaney@theage.com.au or contact him securely on Signal at angusdelaney.31Connect via email.From our partners
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