Heathmont woman “very shaken” after groping incident at Heathmont railway station

A 21-year-old woman had to scream, scratch and slap a creepy male commuter to break free after he followed her home and groped her on the outskirts of Heathmont railway station.

A woman was groped by a man on the outskirts of Heathmont railway station on June 9.

A woman says she’s too scared to return to Heathmont railway station after a man tried to follow her home and allegedly groped her.

The 21-year-old Heathmont woman, who didn’t want to be named, was walking towards Canterbury Rd at 9.30pm on Sunday, June 9, when the man allegedly started catcalling her.

The woman said the man remained two to three steps behind and advanced on her as she turned to get away from him.

She said she “gave him a good whack” and scratched and screamed at the man, then “legged it” and alerted two transit police officers on the other side of the station.

A woman claims she was groped near a kebab shop and Heathmont railway station on Canterbury Rd in Heathmont. Picture: Google Street View.

“He seemed genuinely shocked that I was not happy about the situation,” the woman said.

“But I’m a strong woman, I don’t take any s**t.”

The woman said the incident was unusual for the area but she was “very shaken” and didn’t want to go near the station.

“I’ve walked home dozens of times from that station at all times of the night and I’ve had no problems at all,” she said.

“I’m not sleeping. It’s still quite fresh and I'm really anxious.”

She didn’t believe the station needed extra PSOs but felt more needed to be done to “educate the public as to why this kind of behaviour is not ok.”

Heathmont railway station is one of the smaller stations on the Belgrave line.

She described the man as aged in his late 20s, 178cm, of South Asian or Middle Eastern descent with dark hair and dark eyes.

Adrian Demir, who runs a kebab shop near the station and who wasn’t working at the time, said the attack was “abhorrent” and wished he could have helped.

He said he prided himself on keeping the area safe and there had been only two incidents in his six-and-a-half years trading next to the station.

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‘I have four daughters myself and I never want to see anything like this happen,” Mr Demir said.

Boronia commuter Hannah Milosevic, 26, said she didn’t feel unsafe using Heathmont railway station.

“Every station has stuff happen but I’ve always felt comfortable here,” she said.

Transit crime investigation unit detective Senior Constable Ashley Marsland said detectives were investigating the incident and reviewing CCTV footage from the transport network.

Any witnesses are urged to phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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