Prakasham family allegedly bashed outside of Lynbrook Hotel
A woman is heartbroken after her father, mother and uncle were left bruised and bloodied when they were allegedly punched outside a Lynbrook hotel.
South East
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A woman has been left heartbroken after thugs allegedly assaulted three members of her family in a racially motivated attack in Lynbrook.
Kerri Prakasham told Leader her dad Keith, mum Jacqueline and uncle Lynn were allegedly targeted by two men over their Indian nationality outside the Lynbrook Hotel about 10.15pm on Saturday, February 12.
The 23-year-old said her dad was getting out of his car when a man allegedly went up to him and called him a “f---ing Indian b-----d”.
“My dad was trying to avoid the situation, he put his head down and tried to walk off,” she said.
“But the man came towards him and started (allegedly) swinging punches at him hitting him in the chest.”
Ms Prakasham said the man allegedly continued his racist remarks including “go back to your country”, “brown dogs” and “Indian trash”.
Ms Prakasham said her mum tried to pull her dad away but the man allegedly turned on her, punching her in the chest.
The thugs then allegedly targeted her uncle punching and kicking him around five times.
“He was left bloodied on the car park floor and rolled under the car,” she said.
“He was really banged up and bruised.”
Bystanders came to the family’s aid, pulling the alleged offenders away.
The accused fled the scene with uncle Lynn taken to hospital with facial injuries.
“I was so shocked that it happened so close to home,” Ms Prakasham said.
“As an Indian person I’m use to racist comments but I never thought that a physical assault would ever happen to someone close to me.”
“I thought we were getting over racism and things were getting better but this shows that people are still so cruel”
Ms Prakasham urged the community to be better and stand-up to racism.
“We are regular people, we go to work, we pay our taxes,” she said.
“We should all be treated as one.”
A Victoria Police spokesperson said a 29-year-old Clyde North man handed himself in over the incident.
“Police have a number of follow up inquiries to make and are yet to formally speak to all parties involved,” they said.
The investigation remains ongoing and police said they are not looking for anyone else at this stage.
Any witnesses or anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
