Girl, 8, traumatised after dad left bleeding when group of six men invade Maribyrnong home, stealing Mercedes Benz
A father who was left with serious head injuries in a terrifying early-morning home invasion in Melbourne’s inner west grabbed a golf club to defend himself before the burglars bashed him with it, police say.
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A father who was left with serious head injuries in a terrifying early-morning home invasion in Melbourne’s inner west grabbed a golf club to defend himself before the burglars bashed him with it, police say.
It came as his eight-year-old daughter and her mother were asleep inside the home when a group of six men, of African appearance, broke in through a rear door of their Maribyrnong home.
They confronted the girl’s dad, aged in his 50s, bashing him with the golf club before making off with the keys to the family’s Mercedes Benz.
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The man’s daughter is traumatised after waking to see a group of strange men inside her home.
“Any incident of this nature is pretty traumatic — the little girl we’ve spoken to, and she, I suppose, is asking questions as to why this happened to them,” Detective Sergeant Mark Anderson said.
Det Sgt Anderson said the home invasion at Fabian Ct was targeted.
“It doesn’t appear to be random,” he said.
“I won’t go into why, but our investigation indicates that it’s probably a targeted incident.”
Det Sgt Anderson said an attack of this nature was particularly concerning.
He said while the attack was concerning, there had been a significant amount of time since a similar incident had happened in the area.
The victim is known to police but police say it has been a “significant amount of time since police have dealt with him”.
They do not believe the attack was related to organised crime.
The car was also reported to have been spotted in the Wyndham area about 6.30am.
Neighbour James Tedesco, who can see the property from his front window, heard commotion outside, saw a car reverse and three young men of African appearance running down the street.
“I looked outside my window and saw three young African boys running down the street,” he said.
“They were on foot and screaming out. One of them looked to be holding some goods.”
“I would have said they were 16-22 (years old), young thin boys.”
“There was boys (running) initially, then the car and then some more boys following the car. Then it came back and picked some more boys up.”
Mr Tedesco said he could see a neighbour calling Triple 0 for help.
“The gentleman there was bleeding, his wife was obviously very upset. Their English wasn’t very good so there was a bit of a language barrier but they called the police.”
“His wife was yelling out “he’s bleeding”.”
“There was one lady, she stayed with them until the ambulance came.”
Det Sgt Anderson said the girl was traumatised by the ordeal.
“Their eight-year-old daughter appears to be quite traumatised by it … She has stated that she’s seen three offenders and she’s obviously just got a lot of questions as to why things happened,” he said.
“I believe she saw them (the offenders) from the bedroom but they weren’t actually in that room.”
Det Sgt Anderson said the victim was in hospital with serious head injuries.
“We’ve had initial discussions with him (the victim) but given his injuries we haven’t really been able to probe him too much in relation to it. So I would assume that he’s confronted him but that’s only an assumption at this stage,” he said.
The wife was also home at the time and was uninjured.
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Forensic investigators arrived at the double-storey house just before 9.30am.
They believe the driver of the stolen Mercedes may have hit a power pole when speeding off.
Police inspectors at the scene said Taskforce Wayward, a specialty team used for youth crime, would be leading the investigation.
It’s unclear whether the attack was targeted or random.
Mr Tedesco said it was usually a peaceful neighbourhood.
“Always thought we were immune to it because it’s a bit of a tricky area.”
“It was obviously terrifying, it’s going to be with them for a while.”
Bethany Skinner, who lives across the road, said she heard male voices yelling before a car sped off down the street.
“I heard them (males) down the street, there was a kerfuffle and what sounded like an argument to me.”
“We normally don’t get anything like that here, it’s a nice neighbourhood.”
Mrs Skinner has only lived in the area six months but says the attack won’t deter her.
“I feel fine because we’re in a secluded area,” she said.
“It’s mostly families and older couples. Not many young people. All the houses are very quiet.”
Vic, who lives next door, described the area as a “quiet little neck of the woods”.
He said he also woke to the noise.
“All I know is I heard some sort of racket. I was trying to sleep and a neighbour of mine was able to get on top it (by calling police),”he said.
“It was probably 3.30 to 4am and I reckon what I heard was sort of in a 10-minute bracket.
“The noise, the screaming, the car being reversed. They were bashing the car back and forwards into the street.”
“There was screaming and yelling — I didn’t see it but I heard it.”
“By the time I got out there police had already arrived.”
Police urged anyone who saw a white Mercedes Benz B-Class station wagon with the plates 1JC1SV to contact Crime Stoppers.
The investigation is ongoing.
