Five out of seven Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre escapees caught
LATEST: POLICE have arrested the last two teen fugitives on the run in Melbourne, 24 hours after a mass breakout which sparked a violent crime wave.
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LATEST: POLICE have arrested the last two teens on the run in Colac, west of Melbourne, 24 hours after a mass breakout which sparked a violent statewide crime wave.
The last two teens aged 16 and 17 were nabbed about 3pm, a day after the chaos at the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre.
They were found near a Ford that had been reported stolen.
“The allegedly stolen XR6 was found abandoned in Balnalgowan Avenue in Colac about 2.45pm this afternoon.
The pair were then arrested in nearby Stodart St park shortly after,” Victoria Police said
They were the last two of 15 escapees still outstanding after yesterday’s riot, not long after a 17-year-old was arrested at Redan, 116km west of Melbourne about midday.
Images of the two final youth offenders were released and published on the Herald Sun website this afternoon, but were taken down soon after on legal advice following their arrests.
The release of the images of the two juveniles — however brief — was an extraordinary move by authorities, who earlier revealed they were still in the dark about the crimes the escapees were jailed for.
This afternoon, State Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the whole situation has been a “farce”.
“The Government’s handling of it has been woeful, the minister’s handling of it has been inept and still the Premier refuses to talk about the situation, what it means for all of us, and his government’s handling of law and order in this state,” Mr Guy said.
“The buck stops with the guy in charge, and that’s Daniel Andrews.
Earlier, Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton had been in the process of making an application to the Children’s Court to publicly release the names of the three young offenders still on the run earlier this morning.
He told Radio 3AW the process was a “lot slower than I would have liked”.
“We have to make an application to the head of the children’s court, we’ve now got a lawyer coming in to make that application to the children’s court,” Mr Patton said.
“We’ve got fugitive task force, crime command, yesterday we had in excess of 100 members on the scene.”
Police are investigating whether an aggravated burglary in Mitcham this morning was connected to the detainees’ escape.
State reels from youth crime wave
IN the wake of the breakout drama, the state has been left reeling from a crime wave in which a grandmother was punched, a man robbed with a machete and car rammed with a young girl aboard.
Civilians across Victoria were terrorised in a string of attacks police have dubbed “a small crime wave” after the detainees escaped from Malmsbury youth justice centre.
Fifteen youths escaped yesterday after 30 detainees were involved in a riot at the youth justice centre, about 2.45pm.
Four escapees were arrested in Ashburton this morning, before the remaining three were nabbed this afternoon.
Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton confirmed police believe escapees were involved in a series of violent robberies and attempted robberies.
Four inmates were arrested in Ashburton earlier this morning. Full details → https://t.co/A0YPzk7Tcu pic.twitter.com/mmqFWdk8md
— Victoria Police (@VictoriaPolice) January 25, 2017
Among the string of attacks include several street robberies, where the offenders allegedly used a baseball bat and a knife, occurred in Noble Park, Bonbeach and Moe.
There was also an attempted carjacking in Berwick and an aggravated burglary in Mitcham.
“The escapees have done what I would call a small crime wave really,” Mr Patton said.
“Obviously it’s traumatic. We believe they’ve used a bat and a knife, it’s a very serious event.
“They tried to take a car from a house in Berwick.
“We certainly pursued them yesterday — we went pretty hard on that.
“One resulted in a collision with one of our cars.
“They are certainly a risk to the public.”
Police still on the scene at the Ashburton property where four Malmsbury escapees were arrested earlier today. pic.twitter.com/5ffVjrdytu
— 7 News Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) January 26, 2017
Armed attackers storm Mitcham home, before four youths arrested
OFFICERS were called to a house on Quarry Rd, Mitcham at about 2.40am.
Police have been told three young men stormed the house armed with a baseball bat and a machete and confronted the owner, demanding he hand over his phone and keys to a luxury Mercedes outside.
The youths fled soon after.
There were two young children asleep in the house at the time.
The silver Mercedes was found in Ambon St, Ashburton this morning, where four youths were arrested.
Machetes and other weapons allegedly used by the escapees were seized at the same address.
Detectives raided the Ambon St home — where a number of small children were inside — and collected a large amount of evidence from the backyard.
Spending four hours at the scene, police collected knives and bats linked to last night’s crime spree.
Six officers loaded the large haul of brown evidence bags into an unmarked police car and left at 12pm.
The Mercedes had a small amount of blood on the back window pane and will be tested by police.
Another man at the address was earlier arrested at the same property, but police said it was on an unrelated matter.
Car stolen in escape found dumped
ALSO last night, a stolen car seen earlier with Malmsbury youth jail escapees was found dumped in Melbourne’s southeast after a crash.
The stolen white SUV was captured on camera at a BP service station on the corner of Springvale and Wellington roads in Mulgrave.
Michael, an attendant at the service station noticed the white SUV followed a car into the station just after 11.30pm.
Footage captured the SUV appearing to follow a Ford Territory into the service station before the youths had a verbal altercation with the Ford occupants.
At least two people got out of the Ford.
After the argument, the white SUV followed the car onto the road where it crashed into another car.
Police say the escapees left the scene. It is unknown if they fled in another vehicle or on foot.
The SUV was seen earlier around Fountain Gate.
Police believe other inmates are travelling in a stolen blue Ford Falcon XR6 sedan (rego: ZKV598).
As of 1.45am, the Ford was reported by police as being last seen in the Werribee area.
A dashcam video of the Ford with a police car in pursuit was posted on Facebook about 8pm. The poster says the chase took place along the Western Highway.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Rick Nugent last night said authorities had been relying on the public and their frontline to catch the fugitives.
“We’re relying on public sightings of the vehicles, we have communications out to all of our frontline police, who are actively looking for these vehicles,” he said.
“It is just a matter of time before they are arrested, taken into custody and put back into a facility.”
Grandmother punched, dragged from car
A TEENAGER watched in terror as her mother was dragged out of their car by youths who had escaped from the centre.
Brooke Lee — who was supposed to be celebrating her 19th birthday yesterday — and her mother, Amanda, were driving through Elphinstone about 3pm when they saw what they thought was a car accident.
They turned a corner to call for help when a 4WD crossed onto the wrong side of the road and came nose to nose with their blue Ford sedan.
“A bunch of boys, five big boys got out of the car and came to the driver’s side,” Brooke said.
“They opened the door and said get out of the car.”
Brooke’s mother was in the driver’s seat and yelled at the group of escapees: “No, leave me alone, what are you doing?!”
The boys stepped away and then returned to threaten Amanda, saying: “We f---ing told you to get out of the car, slut.”
Brooke said a youth “twice the size” of her mother punched the 43-year-old in the head.
“He took the keys out of the ignition then reached across Mum, undid her seatbelt, grabbed her by the hair and dragged her out backwards while punching her,” she said.
Brooke jumped out of the car and raced to her mother’s aid as the youths piled into the car and sped off.
“It was like a movie scene ... It was the most terrifying thing,” Brooke said. “I’ve never experienced such fear.
“I’m absolutely terrified, especially because they’re still on the loose and maybe in our town.”
Brooke said she was thankful her 11-month-old child wasn’t in the back seat when the car was hijacked.
She managed to grab their wallets before the car was taken but the youths stole her mother’s phone.
Brooke said her mother was in “quite a state” after being checked at hospital.
“Her cheek is swollen and bruised, her arms are bruised, her legs are bruised,” she said.
Brooke, who works at the local store, said she feared she would run into the offenders again.
She said that youths at Malmsbury were given shopping vouchers to come to her store when they were being released so they could become accustomed to being out of the detention centre.
Youths with iron bars in carjack bid
AND Ray Blackmore and wife Judy told Nine News the youths were armed with iron bars and tried to get into their car.
Ms Blackmore said their car was rammed by the fleeing youths but they left after spotting her granddaughter, aged seven, in the back seat.
“One came around and tried to open my door,” she said.
“As soon as he spotted her they backed off. And they took off.”
MALMSBURY UPDATE: One pursuit abandoned after escapee started driving in wrong direction of the Calder. pic.twitter.com/XkxqME8Kjv
— 7 News Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) January 25, 2017
State forest search unconnected to breakout
TWO males were arrested in Moondarra after a widespread search, although police confirmed they were not escapees.
Latrobe region Acting Inspector David Watson confirmed the police search efforts in Moondarra State Park were unrelated to the Malmsbury jail break.
“This isn’t linked to the escapees in any way,” Inspector Watson said.
He said the black Toyota wagon which crashed in the park was stolen from a residence in Morwell overnight and that three local men had been arrested.
Chaos after mass jail breakout
ABOUT 30 youths were involved in a riot at the centre about 2.45pm yesterday.
Police said the riot started after a number of youths allegedly assaulted a staff member, who suffered minor injuries, and gained access to his keys.
There was minor damage to the inside of the facility, including smashed windows and a small fire being lit.
Fifteen youths fled after stealing a car in the facility, while five others climbed on the roof.
Mr Nugent said six escapees were arrested after a pursuit near Bendigo.
The chase ended after a police car and a stolen vehicle collided in Lockwood, he said.
Two others were arrested last night near Malmsbury.
Mr Nugent was unable to say if the five inmates who climbed on to the centre’s roof had made any demands to CIRT officers, who negotiated them down after about 90 minutes.
The centre was secured shortly after 8pm.
Supt Gillard said there was a “range of police services” looking for the youths on the run.
“The incident is still live; it’s incredibly fluid,” he said.
Police from the fugitive taskforce have been sent to round up the escapees as have officers from the operations response unit, the dog squad and the critical incident response team.
A stolen red Mazda involved in the pursuit was spotted as it was driven through Castlemaine about 3.30pm, and was involved in a petrol drive off about 3.45pm.
Another car was seen heading south on the Calder Freeway towards Melbourne.
The police pursuit temporarily stopped when a car headed down the wrong side of the Calder.
One of the two cars reportedly collided with another vehicle as the youths sped towards Bendigo.
Back at the centre, 10 youths were seen being led off by police in handcuffs within the facility, about 6:15pm.
One was wrested to the ground by riot police after fighting arrest.
The Herald Sun has previously been told of mounting unrest at the centre.
Malmsbury, near Kyneton, has been plagued by rioting and violence for more than a year.
A WorkSafe report revealed by the Herald Sun in October last year showed a high level of assaults on staff, running at worse than one a day.
The public are advised to be alert and stay away from the area.
Any witnesses or anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
If you are in immediate danger, call triple-0 (000).
Originally published as Five out of seven Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre escapees caught
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