Man charged after mum stabbed, boy punched in random CBD attack

A 27-year-old man has been charged after he allegedly assaulted a child and stabbed the boy’s mother with a pair of scissors in Melbourne’s CBD yesterday.

The Sunshine West man was arrested after he allegedly punched the 10-year-old boy outside police headquarters on Spencer Street on Tuesday afternoon. Police allege he then placed the child’s mother in a headlock and stabbed her with a pair of scissors.

Police said the attack was completely random and only ended when several witnesses intervened.

The man has been charged with affray, intentionally causing injury, multiple counts of unlawful assault, conduct endangering life, and conduct endangering serious injury.

Police said the 46-year-old woman was visiting Melbourne from Phillip Island with her 10-year-old son and two other children.

The 10-year-old boy is recovering at the Royal Children’s Hospital, while his mother is at the nearby Royal Melbourne Hospital with injuries to her back and shoulders.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday afternoon, Superintendent Zorka Dunstan said the woman was in “fairly good spirits” given the circumstances.

Dunstan also praised the people who worked together to stop the alleged attacker before police arrived.

“We had a citizen immediately intervene, who jumped onto him and just pulled him off the mum, and then the other two added assistance by grabbing him as well,” she said.

“It [was] heroic. Without the intervention, it could have been a lot worse, so we are so grateful for their assistance.”

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