Man claims he was bashed and his car stolen in South Yarra in attack linked to Apex gang
UPDATE: MELBURNIANS should be more security conscious as a gang of violent teenagers continues to terrorise the city by stealing cars and invading homes, police say.
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MELBURNIANS should be more security conscious as a gang of violent teenagers continues to terrorise the city by stealing cars and invading homes, police have said.
But members of the public shouldn’t arm themselves with capsicum spray.
The Apex gang is being blamed for a spate of aggravated thefts and burglaries in recent months, including the vicious assault of a Mercedes driver yesterday and a subsequent home invasion in which the luxury car was used.
Police have arrested three Apex gang members and a fourth associate over a terrifying series of assaults and robberies during a two-hour inner-city rampage through Richmond, Southbank and Hawthorn.
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Assistant Commissioner Robert Hill refused to link the most recent assaults to the Apex gang “until these people are captured”.
“This type of offending has occurred overseas, the offenders are replicating both of action heroes and Fast and Furious and Grand Theft Auto, it’s thrill seeking and risk taking behaviour of their action heroes,
“It’s a disturbing trend and that’s why Victoria Police are working to turn this trend around,” he said.
Mr Hill said the offenders are not “necessarily linked to the Apex gang”.
“In 70 people who have been arrested, 26 were connected to the Apex gang,” he said.
“The minority could be could be associated to Apex.”
But he admitted the gang, which has 100-odd members, had “become a legend overnight” even though many criminals may only be “loosely connected to the Apex gang through social networks”.
The latest victim, a 29-year-old man from Avondale Heights, had pulled his car over to send a text message on Toorak Rd when his vehicle was hit from behind by what’s believed to be a grey Nissan at 2am.
“Bumping” has for some time been a practice used by Apex members to steal cars.
It is believed the Mercedes was later used in an aggravated burglary in Valencia Circuit, Cranbourne, almost two hours later.
In that crime, four or five males kicked in the front door and stole property before being confronted by one of the householders, who had armed himself with a baseball bat.
The luxury car was then used in an aggravated burglary in Cranbourne a few hours later when up to six men kicked in the wooden door of a house and stole mobile phones and other electrical items.
The alleged victim, Michael, posted to Facebook that as he got out of his car to inspect the damage, five to six people jumped out from the car behind and attacked him with a baseball bat.
“They took my car keys, made me unlock and clear my phone. I was hit numerous times,” he wrote.
“The police have advised me that this is a known gang to them committing these crimes all over Melbourne.
“By the time I was released from hospital numerous other crimes were committed using my car in Cranbourne and Vermont South.”
The victim was taken by ambulance to hospital with injuries described by police as “non-life threatening”.
Mr Hill has encouraged the public to be more vigilant when it comes to the security of their homes and motor vehicles.
“We can all take reasonable steps to think about the security of our homes and vehicles,” he said.
Andrea Freeman told her Uber driver to pull over after seeing the carjack victim in the middle of the road.
She stayed with him until police and paramedics arrived.
“He was all shaken, cut, bruised up. It was pretty scary,” Ms Freeman, 27, said.
“At the start he couldn’t really talk, he was in a lot of shock, he didn’t realise what was going on.”
The intruders fled in a white sports car and a grey hatchback.
They were described as being of African and Islander/Maori appearance.
In another incident reported on 3AW this morning, a young family was held captive after a gang armed with weapons smashed their way into their house in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs in the middle of the night.
“I cannot put into words how it makes you feel,” the man, who asked not to be identified, told the Neil Mitchell program.
He said he no longer felt safe and described a rise in gang crime as class warfare.
“It’s exposing a really interesting underbelly in Australia at the moment,” he said.
Police were unable to follow the intruders due to the no pursuit policy, he claimed.
It is believed the intruders also had links to the Apex gang.
Anyone with any information can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report to www.crimestoppersvic.com
More to come