Victorian election: robberies, carjack in gang’s violent spree

Victoria Police is hunting a gang of youths involved in several violent crimes in Melbourne’s southeast.

Southern Metro Regional Crime Team Detective Senior Constable Lal Devinder Singh said there was a “bit of planning” ­involved in the attacks.

Victoria Police is hunting a gang of youths that carried out six violent robberies across Melbourne’s south­east on Wednesday night, including using a machete to carry out a carjacking.

The crime spree included an ­assault and robbery in South Yarra that left a 41-year-old Hawthorn man needing treatment in hospital, an attempted robbery of a McDonald’s in Cheltenham and a carjacking in Patterson Lakes.

Detective Senior Constable Lal Devinder Singh yesterday said there was a “bit of planning” ­involved in the attacks.

“They have targeted vulnerable victims looking for opportunity,” he said. “People who could not ­defend themselves, and they’ve taken them by surprise.”

The woman who was carjacked in Patterson Lakes early yesterday morning wrote on social media that she had pulled into her driveway after work when the youths demanded her keys.

“5 young males came up behind me, covered my mouth, pushed me into the seat, pointed a 40cm machete at me and warned me not to scream and give up my keys,” she wrote on Facebook.

“My wallet, phone, everything was in my car.”

The offenders are described as being aged between 16 and 20 and of Caucasian, Middle Eastern and African appearance.

Constable Singh said police were looking for between three and six offenders.

“It’s too hard to actually say whether all these offenders were linked in all these offences,” he said.

Constable Singh said there was a common description by victims of a white Volkswagen Jetta being used that police believe was stolen in Cranbourne the previous night.

The crime spree came as an RACV survey of 1000 Victorians found that 85 per cent believed the state had a crime problem.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said Victorians “should be” scared by Victoria’s crime rate. “I’m uneasy about crime in this city, and the reality is that we’ve seen violent crime in the city at rec­ord rates that is not falling,” Mr Guy said.

Victorian Crime Statistics data per 100,000 population shows ­assault and related offences have increased by 6.1 per cent since ­December 2014.

Sexual offences are up 20.5 per cent, and robbery is up 19.5 per cent.

While the overall rate for burglary/break and enter has fallen by 12.8 per cent, residential aggravated burglary is up 31.1 per cent.

“Let me be very clear — crime’s out of control under Daniel Andrews, and jail will mean jail under a Liberal-National government,” Mr Guy said.

Asked about the RACV survey, Premier Daniel Andrews said he would “leave commentators to draw their own conclusions”.

“What I can tell you, the absolute reality is the police academy’s full, it’s going to stay full, because we have given to police the resources, the technology, the equipment and the statute book that they have asked for,” Mr Andrews said.

“Some people cut the police budget. Labor invests ... and that won’t change.”

Mr Andrews said Victoria Police were starting to turn the crime situation in Victoria around.