By Erin Pearson and Cassandra Morgan
Detectives are investigating after a 62-year-old carer was allegedly beaten to death with a hammer inside a home in Melbourne’s south-west, as police grapple with seven possible homicides across the city in less than a week.
Police were called to the home in Everwin Drive, Werribee, about 7.10pm on Monday after the man was found inside with life-threatening injuries.
He was taken to hospital but died several hours later. Nine News reported on Tuesday that the carer was named Kenneth Magee.
Officers arrested a 55-year-old Werribee man at the scene. No charges have been laid.
“Detectives are making inquiries to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident and investigations remain ongoing,” police said.
Forensic investigators and detectives combed through the Werribee property on Tuesday in an attempt to piece together what happened in the lead-up to the death, the seventh death in the past week that is being investigated by the homicide squad.
Police at a Werribee home where a man was fatally wounded.Credit: Jason South
On Thursday, the bodies of Sandra Dobrila, 41, and a 38-year-old man were found inside a home in James Street, Mordialloc, after Dobrila failed to turn up to work.
“This is a really tragic incident. It would have been really traumatic for the person who located the male and female inside,” police said at the time.
On Friday, Hugh Brannan, 30, was stabbed multiple times during an alleged home invasion inside his apartment in Iffla Street, South Melbourne, shortly after 7.30pm. Port Melbourne man Julian Savannah, 29, has since been charged with a single count of murder and remanded in custody to reappear in the new year.
About half an hour after the South Melbourne killing, police were called to perform a welfare check at brothel in Melbourne’s inner west. A woman, who is yet to be identified, was found dead at the property in Cowper Street, Footscray. Investigations are continuing.
On Monday, the bodies of 29-year-old Rye resident Jack Gilmour and a woman named Charlyze “Charli” Hayter were found after a gun fight at a home on the Mornington Peninsula.
Police said they were called after an altercation between a group of people inside a house in Parson Street, Rye, shortly after 4am, arriving to find two people with fatal gunshot wounds.
Investigators believe Hayter and an unknown man had gone to the home and an altercation took place. Police are still searching for the unknown man, who is believed to have fled the property shortly after the fatal shooting.
On Tuesday, Hayter’s grandfather Bob Hayter said: “I am absolutely devastated by my granddaughter’s death, as is the rest of my family.”
Anyone who witnessed the incidents, with dashcam/CCTV footage or information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
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