By Marta Pascual Juanola
Tarneit teenager Hashim Mohamed was dreaming of starting his own business and had got his driver’s licence only two days before his life was cut short during a fight at St Kilda foreshore.
Emergency services were called to St Kilda beach about 7.30pm on Sunday following reports of two groups of young males brawling near the foreshore.
Hashim Mohamed died after being stabbed in St Kilda on Sunday night.Credit: Facebook
Mohamed was found unresponsive with stab wounds at the popular beach near Pier Road and taken by ambulance to The Alfred hospital, where he later died.
The incident was part of a spate of stabbings in metropolitan Melbourne over the past three days which claimed the lives of two people and sent a third person to the hospital.
Mohamed’s older brother, Hanad, said news of the teenager’s death had come as a shock for the family, who were all together at home when police rang to notify them of the incident. By the time they arrived at the hospital, Mohamed had died, and one of his brothers had to identify the body.
“It was very, very stressful,” he said. “Luckily, there was a lot of community support. A lot of my mum’s friends and aunties, close friends and relatives were at the hospital to support my mum, and are still here right now.”
Hanad remembered his brother as a social and entrepreneurial young man, who loved spending time with his friends and dreamed of owning his own business in the future.
The teenager had passed his driving exam two days before the stabbing and was looking forward to finding work while he figured out what he wanted to study.
Hanad said Mohamed had been the only one in his family to go on a religious trip to Mecca last December, which had been a transformative experience for the teenager.
“Mum was very proud of him,” he said. “He had always wanted to be an entrepreneur. He had that kind of mindset.”
A St Kilda resident told the ABC he saw groups of people fighting and running away from the area, which was heaving with people celebrating the first weekend of summer, before police arrived.
Footage shared on social media showed people crowding around a taped-off area after the incident. Emergency sirens could be heard in the background.
Homicide squad Detective Acting Inspector Nigel L’Estrange said members of the public witnessed the attack and rushed to provide first aid to Mohamed.
“We believe the incident was the result of a fight between approximately five to six African males, and there are a number of knives involved in this incident,” L’Estrange said.
Citronelle Circuit remained closed off early on Monday morning as police collected evidence from the scene.Credit: Nine News
Police have spoken to a number of witnesses, but are yet to identify any people of interest.
L’Estrange said there was no evidence to conclude gangs were involved in the violence, but it was one of the avenues investigators were exploring.
He would not comment on the type of knife used in the stabbing, but confirmed police had recovered the weapon from the body of Mohamed.
The attack could have been captured by mobile close-circuit cameras installed in the area as part of Operation Summersafe.
The initiative, which will see a bolstered police presence at key coastal spots throughout summer to tackle excess drinking, drug use and anti-social behaviour, started on Friday.
Police are now combing the footage to identify the alleged attackers, who were spotted running north near Jacka Boulevard.
“We had, at this time of the day, a lot of people in that area who are out because of the heat. We believe that there will be people who have caught this on mobile phone footage or dashcam footage, and we would ask those people to contact CrimeStoppers,” L’Estrange said.
In a separate incident, a teenage boy was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening stab wounds after confronting a group of burglars who broke into his home in Brookfield, near Melton in Melbourne’s outer west.
Police are investigating the stabbing, which unfolded in front of a number of witnesses on Sunday night.Credit: Nine News
Police said the burglars entered the Citronelle Circuit property just before 5am on Monday where they were confronted by residents, including the boy.
“They were involved in an altercation with residents at the property that resulted in a teenage male being stabbed,” police said in a statement.
The boy, who is aged in his mid-teens, was taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital, where he is in a serious but stable condition.
The cul-de-sac remained closed early on Monday morning, as investigators combed the scene looking for clues to identify the burglars, who fled the scene while one of the residents at the home rushed to a neighbour’s house to ask for help.
The violent incident came a day after mother-of-three Nelomie Perera was allegedly stabbed to death inside her Wodalla Circuit home in Sandhurst.
In CCTV footage obtained by Nine News, Perera’s teenage daughter was seen knocking on her neighbour’s door and pleading for help just before midnight on Saturday.
“Please, please, please,” she said as she desperately knocked on the door. “I’m pretty sure she’s dead.”
The girl was then seen doing a hacking motion with her arm as she told her neighbour “he’s cutting her, like, with a knife, he’s, like, full on bashing her with a knife”.
“She was just saying, ‘My mum’s dead, my mum’s dead’,” neighbour Paul Vavitis told Nine News.
The 44-year-old was allegedly stabbed by her former husband, Dinush Kurera.
A teenage boy believed to be Perera’s son was also found with head injuries and rushed to Frankston Hospital. He was discharged on Sunday.
Nine News reported Perera had separated from Kurera and recently changed the locks of her home.
Kurera has been charged with murder. He appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Sunday. He will front court again in April next year.
Anyone with further information about the stabbings is urged to phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
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