Altona Meadows machete attack victim blasts Allan-government over violent crime crisis

An innocent man whose hand was left dangling after an alleged teen machete attack at an Altona Meadows shopping centre says the Allan government is failing to protect ordinary taxpaying residents.

An innocent man who almost lost his hand in an alleged teenage machete rampage says the Allan government has fallen short in protecting the community from violent crime.

Four teens allegedly set upon Saurabh Anand, 33, on his visit to a pharmacy at Central Square Shopping Centre in Altona Meadows on July 19.

His alleged attackers, all aged 14 and 15, slashed his left hand so violently it nearly had to be amputated.

Despite the Allan government on Tuesday moving to introduce to parliament new laws to make it harder for courts to bail repeat offenders, Mr Anand said the government needed to do more to support him and other victims of knife crime.

“As a man in this community, I am doing my part by going to work, paying my taxes to help them (government) build a better and safer state … I would urge the government to do their job,” he told the Herald Sun.

“I have been working here for seven years and paying my taxes to the government, but there is no apparent ability from the government to support (me) on this now.

“The government has to support those victims who have been affected by these attacks.”

Saurabh Anand, 33, had his hand almost cut off in an alleged machete attack. Picture: Supplied

Mr Anand says the Allan government isn’t doing enough to combat violent crime. Picture: Supplied

Mr Anand expressed disbelief that two of his alleged attackers had been bailed, saying they were free while he had been left to deal with permanent damage.

“My life changed last Saturday and since then I’m just trying to put the pieces back together,” he said.

“How is it that I was still in hospital and I see that my attackers are already out in the open … where is the accountability for attacking someone? What are the consequences?

“It’s like I’m the one getting attacked and I am the one who’s facing the consequences.”

Mr Anand, who arrived in Australia from India in 2018 for work, lives a five-minute walk from the shopping centre.

He faces having to renew his visa, due to expire in less than a month, and attend doctors’ appointments while recovering from his injuries.

Mr Anand was visiting Central Square Shopping Centre. Picture: Supplied

He said he was likely to regain just 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the movement in his injured hand, and also suffered a fractured spine in the attack.

“I’m in so much pain, it’s like this constant thing that I’m living with and going through and all of it is just because I went out for a walk that evening,” he said.

One of Mr Anand’s alleged attackers, a 14-year-old who cannot be identified, is a suspect in a similar knife attack in June.

He has been remanded in custody on charges of intentionally causing serious injury, recklessly causing injury, robbery and unlawful assault.

Two 15-year-old boys were bailed while facing the same charges, and another 14-year-old boy was charged on summons.