The violent crimes of Brunswick’s notorious Hope St

A quiet street in Melbourne’s inner-city suburb of Brunswick will forever be tarnished by a string of violent crimes.

It’s just another quiet street in an inner-city suburb of Melbourne but Brunswick’s Hope St will forever be tarnished by a string of violent crimes.

Samir Esbeck, 59, and Sarkis Abboud, 61, were allegedly stabbed to death at an apartment complex on Hope St last Thursday.

A blood-soaked woman was arrested on a tram near Melbourne University in Carlton after leaving a trail from the scene of the alleged crime.

The 44-year-old was charged with two counts of murder following the brutal deaths.

Police sirens and ambulance lights are all too familiar to the residents of Hope St.

It was in the vicinity of the street where Jill Meagher was grabbed and dragged by Adrian Bayley, before he violently raped and murdered her almost a decade ago.

At the time, women feared for their safety and changed their daily routine.

They walked in larger groups, enrolled in self-defence classes and always kept their phone at hand.

Jill Meagher was brutally raped and murdered by Adrian Bayley.

A dark corner of the squalid back lane off Hope Street where Jill Meagher was attacked. Picture: Mal Fairclough

“I felt like it could have been me, or any of my friends,” Djana Umilio said at the time.

“It made me think how often I take my personal safety for granted.”

Four months before, two brothers were arrested at their Hope St home in a dramatic raid.

A rifle, as well as two cars, a silver Porsche and a black Honda, were seized.

The men, aged 21 and 22, were allegedly connected to a stabbing where shots were fired in Coburg the previous year.

In May 2014, a young woman was grabbed by an unknown man and dragged into a bush on the same street.

The attacker was disturbed by a passing cyclist and fled on foot with the victim suffering minor injuries.

On another occasion, a man was lucky to escape a suspicious house fire, which partially destroyed a unit on the street.

Police on the scene of a double stabbing on Hope St. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Two men were allegedly stabbed to death at an apartment complex on Hope St in Brunswick. Picture: Nicki Connolly

The 51-year-old required treatment from paramedics over the blaze in March 2017.

A year later, in March 2018, a 29-year-old man was gunned down in an early morning shooting near a children’s playground.

Blood stains marked the spot in Hope St where the man was found slumped with wounds to his upper body and legs.

Locals know the street only too well after an elderly Brunswick couple were murdered there in 1990.

Joseph “Les” Shackleton and May Rosser were murdered in their home in what police believe was a burglary gone wrong.

Their bodies were found in the boot of their car at Hawksburn train station.

It’s understood Mr Shackleton, 72, was stabbed and Mrs Rosser, 74, was strangled to death.

A $250,000 reward still exists for the three-decades old cold case.

Residents are unsure how their notorious street will ever recover. But one thing is certain, there is little hope left on Hope St.