IT was one horror story after another. One Altona trader told of being threatened with a syringe for the remainder of her half-smoked cigarette.
Another told of burning bits of paper being shoved under her locked shop door as she stood and stared.
Others recounted stories of mobs of 15-or-so young men gathering to fight, and teenagers having sex, urinating, climbing onto roofs and brazenly spraying graffiti in front of petrified traders at Harrington Square.
About 30 traders and police met last Thursday in the back room of a Harrington Square business in the wake of the brutal bashing of Jill Brookes, a 61-year-old who runs a second-hand bookshop.
The Weekly was the only media outlet allowed inside the room.
“Sometimes there’s a lot of males and they just stand there and stare at us,” one woman said.
“I’ve had them at my work, on my own with the door locked up, and them pushing stuff under the door trying to start a fire.”
Another trader told of being robbed at knife-point for narcotics and told to get on the floor as he was leaving his pharmacy dressed for a funeral.
Ms Brookes remains in a critical condition at The Alfred hospital after being found bashed on July 20.
The callousness of the crime shocked even veteran police.
Superintendent Peter Bull said not a day passed that police command didn’t ask for an update as to Ms Brookes’ condition.
Inspector Bill Mathers told traders that in his 33 years as an officer, Ms Brookes’ assault was the most shocking he’d seen.
“If you had’ve told me it was King Street, 3.30 at night, then I’d probably be a bit more accepting of what happened,” he told traders.
The traders, none of whom wanted to be identified, said the proximity of Westona railway station, a lack of lighting and the availability of laneways through which to escape made the square a target for young people.
A female trader, who is taking self-defence classes, asked police if it was OK to keep capsicum spray to defend herself.
Traders wanted to know what motivated Ms Brookes’ assailant and if they would be back.
While he believed it was an isolated case, Inspector Mathers said: “I’ll be honest with you, this is something I’ve never seen before.”
– Goya Dmytryshchak
