A man has been arrested following an alleged assault on a mother and her 10-year-old son in Melbourne’s CBD, after he allegedly punched the boy and stabbed the woman in an unprovoked attack.
The mother was walking with her three children outside the Melbourne West Police Station at about 1pm on Tuesday, when a 27-year-old man from Sunshine West randomly punched her 10-year-old son.
“As she was walking past the police sign, we had a male – 27 years old, from Sunshine West – as he passed them, he just randomly punched the 10-year-old in the upper body,” Superintendent Zorka Dunstan said.
“He kept walking and then turned around, and he grabbed the mother in a headlock, and he started to stab her repeatedly with a pair of scissors.
“Mainly towards the back and mainly on her back leg and shoulders.”
A citizen intervened immediately and jumped onto the 27-year-old male before two other citizens joined in tackling him to the floor.
“We had a citizen immediately intervene; he jumped onto the 27-year-old male, and in addition, we had two other citizens assist with getting this male down,” Superintendent Dunstan said.
“Within a minute, police from the Melbourne West Police station quickly attended and took over the arrest, and we were able to arrest the male and take him into our custody immediately.”
The 30-year-old mother has been taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and is in “good spirits” despite the horrific event.
Her 10-year-old son was taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital with no life-threatening or serious injuries at this stage.
Superintendent Dunstan said the attack was “completely random” and commended the citizens for their “heroic actions”.
“Without a doubt, without their intervention, it could have been a lot worse, so we are so grateful for their assistance.”
The woman’s two other children were not harmed during the attack but “have been impacted by witnessing such an incident”.
“We also have the two other kids who witnessed the attack,” Superintendent Dunstan said.
“Fortunately, they weren’t injured, but obviously they have been impacted by witnessing such an incident, especially occurring to their mother and brother.
Superintendent Dunstan, who witnessed the event from her office and raced down to assist, said the man was known to police in Victoria and Western Australia, and detectives would look at whether mental health was an issue.
He remains in custody to be interviewed by police.
The parties were not known to each other.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
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