ALTONA SES yesterday combed the scene of a brutal bashing at a local bookshop which has left a woman clinging to life and traders terrified.
Hobsons Bay detectives are calling for public help after Jill Brookes, 61, was found in a pool of blood at her West Side Stories shop in Harrington Square shopping centre about 3.45pm on Friday.
Her head and upper body injuries were so severe that the homicide squad was initially called in.
A worker told the Weekly that Ms Brookes’ assailant stole the victim’s backpack.
Police stepped up patrols and stayed at Harrington Square all day Monday to reassure traders, while SES members yesterday conducted a ground search looking for “anything out of place”.
Ms Brookes, a retired schoolteacher and ceramic artist, remains in a critical condition in a medically induced coma at The Alfred hospital.
Sharon Walsh, of the Altona Village Traders Association, of which Ms Brookes is a member, said residents and traders were shocked and in fear. “I felt sick. She’s a 61-year-old woman in a second-hand book shop. She’s just such an easy target. We’re terrified. [The fear’s] flowed into Pier Street. We don’t know who these people are or what they’re after.”
An Australia Post worker who has delivered Ms Brookes’ mail to her nearby home told the Weekly he was disgusted. “You’ve got a woman with a kind heart who wouldn’t harm a flea, always got a smile on her face, and this happens.”
Jerome Chin, who works at the nearby Waffe coffee shop, said he
discovered Ms Brookes about 3.45pm on Friday.
“I rang the ambulance and police. [She] was on the floor and quite badly injured and there was a fair amount of blood,” he said.
Detective Sergeant Brad Lawrence, of Hobsons Bay’s crime investigation unit, said it was a “vicious, cowardly attack”.
He said it was too early to establish a motive.
The worker referred to in the story was not an SES volunteer.
An information caravan will be set up at the square, opposite Mt Saint Joseph’s Girls’ College. Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800333000.
-with The Age
