Victorian hospitals treating record number of patients with knife wounds

Victorian hospitals are treating a record number of patients, including a rising number of teens, with knife wounds as violent assailants unleash increasingly brutal stabbings on their victims.

Hospitals are treating a record number of patients, including a rising number of teenagers, with knife wounds as violent assailants unleash increasingly brutal stabbings on their victims.

Admissions to Victorian hospitals of people presenting with stab wounds and slashes doubled in the past decade, despite police intelligence revealing the number of stabbings has not spiked in that time.

In 2014, 216 people were treated for knife wounds.

Last year, that figure spiralled to 406 patients.

Adults were still more likely to be stabbed than younger kids, but those aged in the 0-14 age bracket made up the biggest increase in hospital patients.

In 2014, there were no child patients in that age group, but there were 11 last year.

Meanwhile, the number of 15-19-year-olds being treated for stab wounds tripled from 17 to 65 patients.

According to the figures, released exclusively to the Herald Sun by Monash University’s Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit, victims were most likely to be stabbed in their hands or on their wrists, followed by their lower body, including their abdomen, lower back, lumbar spine and pelvis.

Prominent community leader Dr Berhan Ahmed said the figures did not represent the true impact of knife assaults on the public.

“This is continuously happening. This (numbers) are a drop in the ocean … It’s not the whole story,” he said.

“There are cases that haven’t been in the media, haven’t been reported (to police), and some of these people are really being butchered.”

Trauma specialists at the Royal Melbourne Hospital have witnessed the fallout of more violent attacks first-hand, with 82 stabbing admissions in 2014 to 166 last year.

15-19 year-old kids were most likely to be hospitalised last year, with 29 admissions up from just six a decade ago.

22-year-old Tomas Petzler was repeatedly stabbed in a random attack at Werribee train station. Picture: Supplied

Mr Petzler was attacked by a group of at least 10 teenage thugs. Picture: Supplied

Reported stabbings dropped by three per cent last year, with 641 reported incidents in 2023 down to 618 in 2024.

But RMH Director of Trauma Associate Professor David Read said the injuries were becoming more common in younger people, who in some cases have lost function in their arms and legs.

“These young people have their whole life in front of them and it saddens me for them to have their potential limited,” Prof Read said.

“Our message to the community is clear: knives are dangerous and the consequence of using them for harm can be devastating. Please do not carry them.”

It comes after the Herald Sun revealed police were seizing 40 knives every day from offenders across the state.

Police have seized more than 100,000 knives from Victorians in the past decade. Supplied: Victoria Police

Police have seized almost 120,000 knives since 2015.

Among the young people hospitalised with severe gashes was 22-year-old Tomas Petzler, who was jumped and stabbed in his back and chest by a group of at least 10 teenage thugs at Werribee train station last month.

One of his attackers was also stabbed during the frenzy and taken to hospital.

Victoria Police Commander Tim Tully, who oversees knife crime, said most stabbings occurred during family violence incidents, but police were seizing record numbers of weapons.

Most knives, machetes and blades were found in raids and in the hands of offenders known to police.

“Despite knife crime remaining stable over the past five years, Victoria Police continues to seize greater numbers of edged weapons than ever before,” he said.

“Last year alone, Victoria Police seized almost 14,800 edged weapons – the equivalent of 40 knives, machetes and other blades removed from the community each day.”