Two injured in raids

By Sarah Schwager
TWO people were cut in two armed robbery attempts in Hampton Park last week.
Police said a man entered the McDonald’s in Hampton Park on Saturday after 7pm with a teenage girl, went behind the counter and held a knife to the back of one of the employees and demanded money and threatened to kill him.
The employee, a 17-year-old man, was cut on the back in the incident.
The man then made demands to the store manager before he was confronted by two people who were in the store, one of whom armed himself with a knife.
The bandit was then kicked by one of these witnesses, causing him to drop his knife.
Police said after picking up the knife, the man went to the nearby Shell service station where he opened the door of a car and made threats to a 56-year-old woman in a car and took her bag.
The woman’s husband, 58, who was inside paying for petrol, then came out and approached the man.
Police said there was a brief struggle and the woman’s husband suffered a cut to the neck.
The man then fled and was later apprehended by local residents after he knocked on the door of a house.
Police said the residents were aware of police activity in the area and when they saw the state the man was in they realised he was the one police were looking for.
He was arrested by police in Strabane Way.
The man who suffered the cut to the neck was taken to Dandenong Hospital for treatment while the McDonald’s employee was treated by ambulance officers at the scene.
Police from the Embona Task Force have charged 26-year-old Benjamin Mills with one count of armed robbery, two counts of attempted armed robbery, and a number of threats to kill, serious assaults and burglaries following incidents on Saturday in the Oakleigh area.
He was remanded to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Police said Mr Mills was on parole from prison.
A 16-year-old girl from Hampton Park was also charged with armed robbery and other counts of burglary.
Anyone with additional information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.