Gang bash man, steal BMW, outrun police as two-day rampage continues
Men brandishing "edged weapons" and metal poles broke into a family home in Melbourne's north overnight, attacking one man and stealing a BMW in what is believed to be the latest episode in a violent two-day city-wide crime spree.
The armed gang broke into the home in Avoca Avenue, Mernda about 4am on Tuesday, leaving a 41-year-old man with minor facial injuries. A 40-year-old woman and two children who had been asleep in the home were unharmed.
Fifty minutes later, the thieves were leading police on a chase along the Princes Freeway in Geelong West with the stolen white BMW SUV and a Mercedes believed to have been taken in Derrimut a day earlier.
Police stopped their pursuit because of dangerous speeds and the Mercedes was later found abandoned on Lunan Avenue in Drumcondra.
Detective Inspector Shayne Pannell from the Southern Metro Crime Team told radio station 3AW it was safer to call off the pursuit.
"The way in which they were driving was really erratic so it was probably more safe to call it off," he said on Tuesday morning.
The two-day crime spree started about 8.40pm on Sunday in Bentleigh East in the city's south-east, when four men smashed their way into a Pasadena Crescent home.
The residents – a 39-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman – were assaulted before the offenders stole jewellery, handbags and computers, and then took a black BMW parked outside.
They raced off, heading west, before the BMW crashed into a barrier on the West Gate Bridge.
The thieves, described by police as being of African appearance, then turned on a driver who saw the crash and slowed down to help.
One of the offenders pulled on the car door, but the motorist managed to speed off.
The thieves dumped the stolen BMW and headed to a house in Anderson Street, Port Melbourne, where a woman was putting her child into her black Hyundai i30 just after 9pm.
The four men threatened the mother with a knife before stealing her car and speeding off.
They were next spotted in Derrimut, in Melbourne’s west, just after midnight, where they broke into another home, assaulting a 65-year-old man.
That man, along with 91-year-old man and two women aged 58 and 64, were held hostage for half an hour as the criminals ransacked their house, the Star Weekly reported.
"Just after midnight we had our front door smashed down by four very dark-skinned, very tall guys, who held us at knifepoint, threatened to kill us," George, one of the victims, told the Star Weekly.
"My mum, dad, aunty and grandfather were all held with massive knives to their throats for 30 minutes while they bashed my dad."
One of the women, a grandmother visiting from overseas, told Seven News the family was shaken after the terrifying experience.
"[Australia] was a very nice country. Now - no," she said.
"I was woken by four masked men standing over bed, knife at throat. They come to my bedroom and put the knife in my neck, and I screamed to tell them, 'Please leave us. Leave us, we have nothing to give to you. Please, please.'"
The thieves dumped the Hyundai i30, stealing a 2010 grey Mercedes sedan and a black 2015 Honda HR-V.
No arrests have been made.
Inspector Pannell said police hoped to make quick arrests.
"We suspect it's the same crew," he said.
He said the thieves appeared to be using and dumping the "high-end performance ... nice cars", as opposed to selling them.
Anyone who spots the white BMW with registration VIA365, or a black 2015 Honda HR-V registration 1EY3DI, is urged to call 000, Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.