By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
PEDESTRIANS are being bashed, lied to and robbed by barefaced thieves at new and disturbing rates across the south-east.
The threat of stranger danger is peaking in Casey, and Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Darren Hedge, from the Casey Crime Investigation Unit, said “it’s scary”.
“But you can’t ask people to stop walking the streets,” Det Hedge said.
In just 16 days, four violent aggravated street robberies and attempts at stealing a pedestrian’s phone, wallet or electrical goods were reported to Casey police officers.
A daylight bashing left a man with severe injuries in Cranbourne, after he answered the offender’s directions query, on Saturday 23 April at 2.30pm.
The Good Samaritan was punched to the back of the head, kicked and wrestled to the ground, before the offender stole his wallet and phone and sped off in a waiting car.
Det Hedge said the violent nature of the kerb side attacks is “alarming”.
“There is certainly a spate of them going on- what it’s attributed to who knows.”
Another male was taken advantage of by a passing motorist in Berwick on Wednesday 27 April.
The pedestrian had his phone snatched from his hands while making a phone call on behalf of the offender who told him he had lost his dog.
Det Hedge’s response to the good-natured victims was their unquestioning nature.
“I guess people are trusting and don’t think that these people who are asking for assistance are going to turn on them and rob them,” he said.
“People would like to believe they can still walk the streets alone and help someone in need without fear of being robbed.”
But the brazen criminals continued to pounce in May, targeting an 18-year-old man near the Berwick railway station.
A trio of crooks demanded the victim’s wallet and phone after putting him a headlock on Sunday 8 May, about 1.30am.
The teenager handed over his possessions and called police.
The spike in drive-by robberies have occurred throughout late April and early May and Det Hedge called the incidence “relative to other issues” police face in the south-east.
“I’m not going to say they are apex gang-related, but we are experiencing an increase in car thefts, aggravated burglaries and street robberies across the board,” he said.
“And the Casey CIU along with a taskforce out of Dandenong investigate these connections and types of offending.”
A more recent street side attempted robbery involved a gun in Cranbourne South.
A man described as “dark skinned” by witnesses threatened two men with a gun and a knife on Sunday 8 May about 1.40am.
The attempted armed robbery occurred on the corner of Camms Road and the South Gippsland Highway and the two male victims managed to run toward the Settlement Hotel unscathed.
The offender, described as muscly with dark hair demanded the wallets and phones of the 26 and 25-year-old males.
Det Hedge said one of the only things pedestrians could do was to be mindful of their surroundings.
“The violence is so random and sometimes unnecessary because often the victim hands over their belongings without resistance, but are still being assaulted badly,” Det Hedge said.
“Some of these places aren’t even dim or dark; they are busy streets with security cameras near.
“Both young and older people are targeted and the only thing to layer between these is that they are picking vulnerable people who are often walking alone.”
