Central Station: Where not even the homeless dare to sleep

BY day the city’s most desperate and homeless mingle with buskers and charity workers, confused and weary travellers and commuters. By night, Central Station’s atmosphere takes on a more sinister tone.

A police investigation follows the shooting of a man who threatened the owner of the Eddy Avenue florist last week. Suspected armed robber shot dead by police

• Central Station shooting: Police right to open fire, says witness

A NAKED woman strolling down Eddy Ave, drug dealers greeting suited commuters in the local park and addicts high on ice picking fights with the homeless.

Central Station businessman Mohammad Didorally has witnessed what the majority of the 250,000 commuters passing through the transport hub each day miss — or choose to ignore, their heads down as they walk rather than make eye contact with the mad or bad.

By day it is a melting pot as the city’s most desperate and homeless intermingle with buskers and charity workers, confused and weary travellers and inner-city office commuters. It is shabby, awaiting renovation, and often confronting.

Central Station was described as a “soulless rabbit warren” by an internet commentator.

But at night, the atmosphere takes on a more sinister tone with not even the homeless hanging around.

The police shooting death of ice addict Danukul Mokmool, 30, outside Central Station last Wednesday night as he held a broken bottle to the throat of a local florist does not come as a surprise to Xcite Promotions manager Mr Didorally, who says his busy discount shop just around the corner in Eddy Ave is targeted by shoplifters up to twice a day.

A police officer in a stand-off with a man at Central Station. Seconds later the man ran at police armed with scissors and was shot dead.

The thieves are indiscriminate, attempting to steal anything from a Snickers bar to a silk tie.

Friday was a good day — there was only one theft attempt with staff managing to stop a would-be shoplifter attempting to leave the shop with a pile of T-shirts.

“They go to the park, get their drugs and then go back on the train.”

After one of his staff members was bashed earlier this year while trying to apprehend a shoplifter, Mr Didorally reduced the hours of ­operations of his shop from 7am to 9pm down to 9am to 6.30pm.

It means he no longer has to clean up the traces on his doorstep of those who sleep over, or use, at night, with council or rail staff dealing with the stinking mess.

“In the early morning, it was the worst as people half asleep on drugs come in trying to steal water or chocolate, sometimes they don’t even wear clothes,” he said.

Last week’s shooting occured next to Central’s Eddy Ave entrance.

Pictures: Sam Ruttyn

“Most of the homeless are good people, it is more the people on drugs who are the problem. They go to the park, get their drugs and then go back on the train.

“We cut back our hours to try and avoid them (the drug users), but we still have lots of problems with people trying to steal, even today a guy tried to steal some shirts.”

Mr Didorally says he no longer notifies the police, given the low chance of success in nabbing the off-ender, while also admitting he couldn’t be bothered going to court.

“There are people wandering around on ice, a lot of mental health issues.”

He says the 7-Eleven store next door is also regularly targeted, but the on-duty manager refused to comment: “We can’t say anything because of the company media policy.”

As for the homeless who camp out around the station perimeter by day, not even they hang around at night.

One former rough sleeper “Kenny”, who has since found acco-mmodation, said he used to use his former veteran free train travel benefit to join others in riding the “homeless express” to Newcastle and back to avoid being targeted at the station at night.

Mohammad Didorally’s discount store is regularly targeted by thieves.

Central Station vendor April Valerio has been waiting for security cameras around her juice store.

Despite this, he says he has been hospitalised six times after being ­assaulted, once left with a broken cheekbone and another time with six broken ribs.

“We never slept here at night, it is too dangerous,” he says.

“If I couldn’t get on a train, I would go over to Star City — anywhere but here. There are people wandering around on ice, a lot of mental health issues.

“There are a lot of drug users who come here; they go over to where all the housing commission is or just over the park here.”

Over at the Central Squeeze juice store, which opened just three months ago, April Valerio is waiting for additional security cameras to be installed around her shop.

In March, a visitor from Monaco dubbed it a “scary place during the day, terrifying at night”.

She points to one near the florist shop, but says it doesn’t capture ­vision near her business.

“We are a little bit scared, especially with no CCTV,” she says.

“My boss is planning to put more cameras around the shop, which will make us feel safer.”

The picture painted on travel website Tripadvisor by visitors on their Central Station experience is also far from flattering — with one describing it as a “soulless rabbit warren”.

“It fails in terms of amenities, space, line of sight, easy navigation and easy access to food and other shops,” he said.

In March, a visitor from Monaco dubbed it a “scary place during the day, terrifying at night”.

A tent “city” has become part of Belmore Park, opposite the train station.

A quarter of a million people move through Central every day.

“Absolutely awful,” said another.

“This busy station is a great way to get about, unfortunately there are NO staff around.

“No one to ask for help or guidance. Poorly signposted. Hard to navigate through.”

While police would not comment on station security while the investigation into Mr Mokmool’s death is under way, Rail Tram and Bus Union NSW secretary Alex Claassens says the security presence at the station has been affected by the state government decision four years ago to replace the former rail transit officers with police.

“The transit officers had limited powers but there were more of them, and we could have them where we needed them,” he said.

Although shopkeepers such as Mr Didorally no longer bother ­reporting incidents to police, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and ­Research figures show Central to be a crime hotspot, with drugs and theft the key offences.

A homeless man pictured at the rear of the station.

Florist shop owner Manuel Theoharas was targeted by the man later shot last Wednesday night.

In the year to March, there were 571 recorded drug incidents in and around the station, relating to use or possession of cocaine, amphetamines, ecstasy, narcotics and cannabis, with 271 cases of theft. Until last week, there was only one homicide — an attempted murder last year.

However, disorderly conduct was recorded 79 times, with harassment and making threats accounting for 31 incidents.

Police have declared the shooting death of Mr Mokmool, a former ice addict from Green Valley, as a critical incident.

RELATED:

It is not known if he had taken drugs when he armed himself with up to four pairs of scissors — two in his belt and holding the other two and a broken bottle — before threatening florist Emmanuel Theoharis, injuring him in the neck.

The attack has not fazed Mr Theoharis, who was back at the flower shop he has run for 46 years the following day.

“We are all tough here,” he said. “I love it. I have lots of friends here. In any city of the world where there is this many people coming through, you have to expect something like this.”

The state government is planning to clean up what should be one of Sydney’s centrepieces, announcing a “revitalisation” plan last year to turn it into “an international showpiece” with work to begin next year.

Until then, it will remain a hub for the city’s lost.