Death of suspect in Brighton home invasion that led to Bec Judd’s crime comments
The case of a man accused of a violent home invasion that attracted attention from influencer Bec Judd has taken a tragic turn.
Police & Courts
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A hammer-wielding home invader who prompted debate about the crime rate in Brighton from prominent influencer Bec Judd, has died while awaiting charges.
The suspect allegedly invaded a Brighton home on April 28, prompting Judd to speak up about what she believed was a “crime wave” in Melbourne’s bayside suburbs.
The aggravated burglary, where a woman was threatened with a hammer, happened in proximity to Judd’s $7.3 million mansion.
The victim arrived home in the afternoon and found a man rifling through her belongings.
“The woman grabbed her phone to call emergency services but the man produced a hammer, threatened the woman and forced her to hand over the phone,” Victoria Police said in a statement at the time.
“The offender ran out of the house with the woman’s phone and purse and left the scene in a blue hatchback. Fortunately, the woman was not physically injured in the incident.”
The 22-year-old Footscray man was interviewed and released pending summons.
However, the suspect has since died.
Judd shone light on the issue by posting on social media to her 785,000 followers.
“So sick of the rapes, bashings and home invasions at the hands of gangs in bayside,” Judd posted on Instagram at the time.
“The state government don’t seem to care. We feel unsafe.”
On May 29, Premier Daniel Andrews responded to Judd’s criticism.
“I’m not interested in having an argument with Ms Judd,” Mr Andrews said.
“I’m also obliged to point out though, I think there are more than 70 additional police in the Bayside area, and the most recent crime statistics released by an independent agency would not support those sweeping assessments about patterns of crime.”
Judd’s claims were trumped by the most recent crime statistics release, which showed crime had dropped in the bayside local government area by more than 12 per cent to the year ending March 31.
In Brighton specifically, the number of crimes year-to-year dropped by 829.
There were six aggravated burglaries in the year to March 31, compared to none the year prior and five in 2020.
The latest figure matched the number of aggravated burglaries in the suburb in 2017.
In East Brighton, there was one aggravated burglary in the year to March 31, compared to three the year prior.
The number of incidents in the bayside area decreased from 3827 to 3346 during this time.
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