Three men have been left with “serious injures” after two separate attacks rocked the Melbourne CBD within hours of one another over the weekend.
A 17-year-old has been left with serious injuries after a violent robbery and two men have been left with serious lacerations to their hands and arms after a second violent attack over a span of hours along Elizabeth St in the Melbourne CBD.
Victoria Police said five teenagers were arrested after a 17-year-old boy was set upon by a group not known to him about 10.40pm on Saturday night.
Footage of the shocking incident shows the offenders brandishing machetes as the victim desperately tries to fend them off.
Police were able to track the teens using CCTV, which showed them fleeing the scene and hopping onto a train.
They were released by police without charge “pending further investigation”.
Hours later, about 5am, police were again called to Elizabeth St after a “verbal dispute between two females escalated” and resulted in a melee between two groups of men.
“The incident escalated and one male brandishing a machete chased two males and allegedly slashed both, causing serious injuries to the hand of one male and the arm of the other,” police said.
The man who received a hand injury then ran to Flinders Street Station and asked for help from officers stationed there.
Six people believed to be involved were arrested.
A 17-year-old from Brimbank, believed to have been out on bail, was allegedly responsible for the machete attack.
He was charged with intentionally causing serious injury in circumstances of gross violence, affray, possessing a prohibited weapon, drug possession, and committing an indictable offence while on bail.
A 19-year-old man, a 16-year-old girl and a 23-year-old man also received a variety of charges related to the incident.
Police have urged anybody who witnessed the incident to contact Crime Stoppers.
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