Man accused of attempted murder labelled a ‘danger to everyone’ by police

A HOMELESS man who is alleged to have almost killed two men would be a danger to the public if released, police have said.

The artists impression police made at the time of the March South Yarra stabbings of the alleged attacker.

A HOMELESS man accused of almost killing two men in separate Melbourne stabbing attacks has been labelled a “danger to everyone” by police during a bail application.

John Samuel Thackray, 32, is charged with two counts of attempted murder after two men were attacked in South Yarra, to the south of the CBD, in March and July.

Thackray made a brief appearance in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Sunday and was kept behind protective glass.

He is accused of stabbing one man at a William Street property after the homeowner found Thackray sleeping at his back door on March 18.

South Yarra resident John Anderson was stabbed in the heart eight times when he was attacked by a man who was sleeping rough on his porch. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The man’s upper body was stabbed eight times, including to his heart, and he needed lifesaving surgery at the Alfred Hospital, Detective Senior Constable Shane Neville told the court.

Then, in July, another man was attacked.

Police allege the victim confronted Thackray on Osborne Street because he thought the homeless man was trying to steal his car. Thackray went away and then came back, and a second altercation took place and the man was stabbed and slashed, with an artery in his leg resulting in near-fatal blood loss, Det Sen Const. Neville said.

It will also be alleged Thackray assaulted a Woolworths worker on the same day as the Osborne Street attack because the staff member accused him of shop lifting.

In opposing bail, Det Sen Const. Neville told the court Thackray has a long history of random, unprovoked attacks.

“He is a danger to everyone he comes in contact with,” Det Sen Const. Neville said.

Det Sen Const. Neville told the court Thackray had previously yelled at a child who bumped into him on a bus, then assaulted a man who stood up for the child, tried abducting a woman from her own home, beat a cell mate in jail, and attacked two bus drivers and a truck driver.

Thackray was refused bail and will reappear in court on August 10.