A father is undergoing eye surgery after allegedly being stabbed 11 times in the head, face and arms during a horrific alleged home invasion in Melbourne that also left his elderly parents injured.
The man and his wife were woken by the sound of five machete and knife-wielding intruders breaking into their home on Oxford St in Kew East at about 4am on Sunday, and the 39-year-old man was allegedly attacked after confronting them, police said.
The man’s parents came to his aid before they too were allegedly attacked, and when his wife emerged to check on her husband she was allegedly held at knifepoint and forced into a room where her toddlers were sleeping.
The 39-year-old man suffered a fractured arm, cuts all over his face, and is having surgery on one of his eyes, while the grandparents have been released from hospital after being assessed by doctors.
Four of the offenders allegedly fled in the couple’s BMW, while the fifth left in the car the gang arrived in.
Victoria Police arrested three alleged offenders in Deer Park a short time after they dumped the BMW, and a 17-year-old male, a 24-year-old Caroline Springs man and a 16-year-old boy have now been charged with
A 24-year-old man and two teenagers, aged 17 and 16, have all been charged with aggravated home invasion, intentionally cause serious injury, recklessly cause serious injury, four counts of recklessly cause injury, false imprisonment, theft of mobile phones, and theft of motor vehicle.
All were remanded in custody, with the 24-year-old man due to face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on November 5, and the teenagers due to face a children’s court at a later date.
CCTV obtained by 7 News shows the alleged offenders fleeing from police, who are still searching for two more males.
No descriptions have been released.
Boroondara Detective Sergeant Leanne Trussler said home invaders were “not used to people fighting back, and this homeowner fought back”.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said.
“This is awful, a family, two adults, two children aged 2 and 3 and the grandparents are sleeping their home at nearly 4 o’clock in the morning, the house is secure, they’re meant to be safe, and they’ve woken up and been treated like this.
“It’s their home, or their castle as they say. You should be safe, you shouldn’t be disrespected in your home and having people come in at that time of night and doing that to your family. I don’t know how I’d be if that was my family.”
The attack is the latest in a series of alleged incidents involving machetes in Victoria despite Premier Jacinta Allan banning their sale and installing 40 “machete bins” across the state at a cost of $13 million.
Header image: Left, police at the home. Right, alleged offenders flee police (7 News).
