African gang’s reign of fear in Melbourne’s West

Daniel ­Andrews is under mounting pressure to combat Melbourne’s street gang crisis after another night of mayhem.

The owners of the Hillside house where a woman was traumatised.

Victorian Premier Daniel ­Andrews is under mounting pressure to combat Melbourne’s street gang crisis after another night of mayhem across the city’s suburbs with four brutal attacks, ­including a violent home invasion.

The latest outbreak of lawlessness prompted calls by Australia’s new Minister for Home Affairs, Peter Dutton, the state’s opposition and victims to demand that the Labor state government take action.

A woman was terrorised after being punched in a home ­invasion in which at least 10 men, described as being of African ­appearance, broke in and ransacked the property, then threatened to kill her unless she waited at least five minutes before calling for help.

“She’s traumatised. I wonder how we’ll be able to stay here,” a distraught family member, Sam, told The Weekend Australian. “How are you meant to go back to normal after this?”

The terrifying burglary was one of several brutal attacks to take place across Melbourne’s western suburbs in a three-hour period on Thursday night and early yesterday, which police ­believe to be linked.

The spree, which included two home invasions and two separate street assaults on teenagers, one in which a baseball bat was used, came despite an already heightened police presence in western Melbourne, where the force is attempting to control gang-­related violence.

Mr Dutton said the Andrews government must act to protect Victorians. “The longer the ­Andrews government fails to restore law and order in Victoria, the longer Victorians will suffer at the hands of these thugs,” he said.

GRAPHIC: Night of mayhem

Mr Andrews, who is on holidays, did not comment on the incident, but Police Minister Lisa Neville described the attacks as “intolerable” and assured the public that the government would “stop this behaviour” and “hold these young people to account”.

Opposition legal ­affairs spokesman John Pesutto called on Mr Andrews to return from leave and take charge of the state’s justice system, which was in “catastrophic free fall”.

The first home invasion took place in Hillside about 11.30pm on Thursday, with four males smashing a glass door to enter the property, where a 59-year-old woman was house-sitting for family.

After being struck across the face, she was forced to sit in a front room while more men entered the house and ransacked the property, taking electronics, children’s scooters, piggy banks, car keys and an Xbox console.

They also smashed the television, bashed through walls and ransacked the bedrooms.

According to the property’s owners, who were away at the time, one of the offenders watched over their aunt, who was minding the house, and later forced her into handing over the passcode to her phone and iPad, which she had been using to communicate with her husband who is reportedly in intensive care after suffering a heart attack on Christmas Eve.

After the ordeal was over, they told her to wait five minutes before calling anyone, or they would kill her.

Neighbour Alf Catania said residents in the area had become fearful for their safety.

The grandfather has spent more than $5000 in the past six months upgrading security and ­installing motion sensors and an electromagnetic deadlock at his home. “They’ve got to do something; Daniel Andrews has to see we’re crying out here for help,” he said. “Residents are scared and we’re looking out for each other, but we don’t even have a 24-hour police station.”

Police believe the same group of men could be linked to two other street assaults on teenage boys and another home invasion in the area. Earlier in the night, a 17-year-old boy walking in Taylors Hills was hit on the legs with a baseball bat and assaulted.

Police believe the same group also punched and kicked a 16-year-old boy in Cairnlea, before stealing his mobile phone and ­demanding the passcode. One of the young victims required hos­pital treatment.

At 12.30am yesterday, three men also tried to break into a house in nearby Delahey but fled with just a stolen mobile phone after the occupants armed themselves. Nathan, 18, arrived home from work at a shopping ­centre to find his father swinging a baseball bat at three hooded ­attackers.

“It was probably the scariest thing I’ve seen — I’m still pretty shocked,” he said from inside the garage where the men had tried to smash their way into the home. “You hear about this sort of stuff happening around here, but you never think it will happen to you.”

Victoria Police Commander Russell Barrett, who is in charge of the northwest district, described the spree as “thuggish behaviour” and vowed to lock up the perpetrators. “We’re not saying it’s organised, but we’re certainly saying they’re behaving in street gang ­behaviours,” he said.

“These are horrendous offences; no member of our community should be a victim of these types of offences. This is incredibly concerning, the behaviours are abhorrent. It’s just thuggish behaviour by young people in our community who have no apparent care for the rights and wellbeing of their fellow citizens.”

Commander Barrett said all of the victims had described the ­offenders as African youth “so our investigation is focusing on that”.

Victoria Police has come under significant pressure in recent weeks following a wave of attacks, vandalism and affray at the hands of young African men across the city, which set off a political storm.

Acting chief commissioner Shane Patton this week admitted Melbourne had an issue with ­African street gangs, after comments by Superintendent Therese Fitzgerald — that “youth crime in general” rather than “gangs” was to blame — sparked a backlash.

Concerns about sentencing and bail have also been raised, with a Children’s Court magistrate this week granting bail to a 17-year-old who had been charged with kicking a policeman in the head as he tried to arrest a shoplifter on Boxing Day. The youth was on probation at the time.

Mr Dutton, who received significant criticism for saying Melburnians were afraid to go out at night, including from Victorian Supreme Court judge Lex Lasry, hit back at the high-profile judge yesterday. “I’m glad Justice Lasry was able to enjoy a quiet dinner last night,” Mr Dutton said.