A homeless man who allegedly stabbed a woman in the neck on a busy Melbourne tram was out on bail at the time.
The woman, 51, was rushed to hospital after the alleged attack, which took place while she was travelling on the tram near Kingsway at about midday on Tuesday.
The 37-year-old alleged knifeman got off the tram a short time later, and was arrested at gunpoint in South Melbourne. The woman was rushed to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
He was later charged with “reckless conduct endanger serious injury”, “intentionally cause injury”, “stalking”, “assault with a weapon”, “commit indictable offence whilst on bail”, “contravene conduct condition of bail”, and “possess controlled weapon”, and will face court on Wednesday.
A witness named Celeste told the Herald Sun the homeless man surrendered once police drew their firearms.
“The policeman raised his gun up at him and he put his hands up,” she said.
“It was very scary, an innocent person. It was chaos. It was quite a busy tram. There were a bunch of uni students who got off as well.”
Another witness, named Jacquie, told 3AW she saw a man lift up his jumper and T-shirt and “had this feeling he might stab somebody”.
“Then I just heard a lady scream, ‘He stabbed me. I’ve been stabbed’,” she said.
She said the alleged attacker then got off the train but was followed by two male passengers who called out to pedestrians for help stopping him.
Jacquie also said the victim told her the man had been following her since Bourke Street.
A third witness named Pauline said one of the male passengers helped disarm the man.
“The guy was actually waving the knife around, and the good Samaritan that had jumped off the tram actually grabbed the knife from him just as the police arrived,” she said.
“They came out of their car with a gun and held him on the ground.”
Header image: Left, right, the man being arrested (supplied).
