Police are conducting a manhunt after a 71-year-old man was randomly stabbed during an early morning walk in Port Melbourne on Thursday.
The victim was walking near Crighton Reserve on Liardett Street about 5.20am when he was approached by an unknown man and stabbed three times. Without provocation, the attacker inflicted multiple wounds on the elderly man as he made his way through the suburb.
The victim fled to a nearby cafe on Bay Street where he raised the alarm. Staff at the cafe assisted him as emergency services were contacted. He was taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Investigators conducted a thorough search of the area this morning and are appealing for anyone with information to come forward. Despite the extensive sweep, police have been unable to locate the offender. The Port Phillip Crime Investigation Unit detectives remain actively working the case.
The assault comes as Melbourne grapples with a troubling pattern of unprovoked street violence. Criminal incidents in Victoria rose 18 percent to 483,583 in the year to June, reaching a near-decade high in per capita offences. Police attribute much of the surge to a small cohort of repeat juvenile offenders, some recruited by outlaw motorcycle gangs or foreign crime syndicates, who have exploited the state's previously relaxed bail laws.
The Port Melbourne incident represents the second random stabbing reported in Melbourne within 24 hours, raising fresh concerns about public safety in the inner city and suburbs.
Witnesses or anyone with information about the incident are urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online.