Members of Indian community in Melbourne’s West have been rattled after recent attacks on the community.
In last one week, three incidents have rocked the western suburbs of Tarneit, Williams Landing and Point Cook where cases of aggravated burglary, physical assault and car thefts were reported.
In first incident, Paresh Parmar from Tarneit was attacked by five young black boys right at his doorstep, on Wednesday evening.
Paresh Parmar was attacked by a gang of five young boys on last Wednesday, outside his home in Tarneit. Source: Supplied
After running errands, Parmar had just returned home when he was approached by this group asking for directions to Tarneit railway station.
Parmar stepped out of his garage to give them directions but inspite of repeating the directions, the boys didn’t leave. Five of them surrounded him and physically assaulted him, hit him on the eye before driving away with his car. Parmar’s bunch of keys which included house keys and garage keys were inside the car, the group drove away with.
The group returned few hours later, around 3.15am and tried to break in. But luckily Parmar had changed the house locks, realising that the keys had been left behind in the car.
In another incident, a group of four black teenagers attacked Williams Landing resident Ritesh Chandan around 3.30am on Monday morning. The family of six was asleep when the gang broke into the house.
Gang of four boys broke into Ritesh Chandan's house on early Monday morning, in Williams Landing. Source: 7 News
“I was attacked by one of them before I was pushed into the bedroom where my wife and kid were asleep. They told us that we could get hurt if we didn’t cooperate,” Chandan told 7News.
The gang then strolled through the house, picked up an ipad, mobile phones and drove off with their car.
The latest incident was reported on Tuesday morning in Point Cook.
A BMW, Mercedes and laptop were stolen from a Point Cook home in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The occupants of the Pasadena Circuit home didn't realise what had happened until they heard the sound of their cars being stolen.
Police spotted the vehicles but did not pursue due to excessively high speeds.
POLICE INVESTIGATES
Police have arrested three out of five boys in the Tarneit incident and four teens in relation to the Williams Landing burglary and theft. They are still investigating an aggravated burglary which occurred in Point Cook earlier this morning.
These incidents in such a short span have sparked heated discussions and deliberations within the community.
COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER TO DECIDE FURTHER COURSE OF ACTION
Several safety meetings were organised and residents have also started an online petition following a spike in crime across Wyndham. The petition campaigns for increase in police presence, a police station for Point Cook and technological equipment that enables efficient policing.
A Neighbourhood Watch AGM has been proposed on 13th July, Wednesday near Tarneit Station and a Tarneit community safety meeting has been called on 16th July to discuss Tarneit residents’ issues regarding any “security threats/alerts/intrusions” that happen in and around their neighbourhood.
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