By Benjamin Millar
Police believe a violent home invasion in Maribyrnong was a targeted attack.
Maribyrnong CIU Detective Sergeant Mark Anderson said a balaclava-clad group of up to six men entered the Fabian Court home via a back door about 3.45am on Thursday.
A man aged in his 50s armed himself with a golf club and confronted the intruders, who wrested control of the golf club and assaulted the man with it before stealing a luxury Mercedes.
Detective Sergeant Mark Anderson said the eight-year-old girl who witnessed the attack with her mother is now asking why it happened to her family.
“Any incident of this nature is fairly traumatic. The little girl we have spoken to … is asking questions as to why it happened to them,” he said.
“The information we have is that the daughter and the wife observed what occurred and that may have been as a result of the commotion [they’d heard happening] downstairs.”
Detective Sergeant Anderson said it was the first example of a serious home invasion in the western area of Melbourne for almost 12 months.
The attackers stole a white Mercedes-Benz B-class wagon from the property, with the registration number 1JC 1SV.
CCTV captured the car in Hillside minutes after the attack, and a witness reported seeing it in Wyndham about 6.30am.
The attackers have been described by witnesses as being aged between 16 and 22. They were still on the run on Thursday afternoon.
The investigation is being handled by Taskforce Wayward, a special police unit that deals with troubled youths in Melbourne’s west.
Detective Sergeant Anderson would not say if the alleged assailants were known to police through the taskforce.
He would also not reveal why police believed the attack was targeted.
“Our investigation indicates it is probably a targeted incident,” he said. “It doesn’t appear to be a random matter, it would appear that address has been targeted for a reason.
“At this stage we don’t know who the offenders are for sure. We have got some people who we are loosely looking at, but there’s nothing to suggest they’re definitely involved.”
Detective Sergeant Anderson said it did not appear the victim and attackers were known to each other and there was no evidence to suggest it was linked to organised crime.
The victim remained in hospital on Thursday afternoon with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
He went downstairs after hearing noises in his house and hit one of the assailants with a golf club, he told police.
After this, one of the attackers hit him back with either another club or the same one.
Only the car was stolen, police believe.
Local resident James Tedesco, who lives along the street, was awake at the time of the home invasion.
He said he could hear people shouting and running past his house and went to check on the commotion from his window.
“I saw three youths running away from the house down the street,” Mr Tedesco said.
“Then I saw the white Mercedes reversing out of the driveway and drive down the street.”
Mr Tedesco said he then saw three more youths running after the car carrying things underneath their clothes.
“They were quite emotional, shouting and thinking they’d been left behind.”
He said he saw a car return to get them. Police do not know if this car was the white Mercedes or another vehicle.
The whole incident lasted three or four minutes and involved at least six boys, he said.
Mr Tedesco then saw a man on the floor in front of the house and a woman panicking saying: “He’s bleeding.”
“The car had some issue driving away. I don’t know if they hit something or stalled,” he said. “It’s terrifying for the people who were in the house.”
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said it was a “bad case of home invasion” and predicted swift arrests because police had “really good intel on those groups who do home invasions”.
“It’s another example of appalling behaviour to break into houses to steal cars,” Mr Ashton said.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
-with The Age
