An Iraqi man accused of stabbing a female stranger in the neck aboard a Melbourne tram was subjected to an abusive outburst when he appeared in court on Wednesday.
Jahangir Sharifabadi, 37, appeared before Melbourne Magistrates’ Court wearing the same worn clothes he had on when police arrested him on Tuesday afternoon.
Sharifabadi is accused of attacking the 51-year-old woman without provocation, allegedly using a fork to stab her on a city tram near Kings Way in South Melbourne shortly before midday.
Reports indicate the woman was carrying a chihuahua when the alleged attack took place.
A bystander filmed Sharifabadi’s arrest and later uploaded the footage to social media.
With assistance from a Persian interpreter, Sharifabadi did not speak during the short hearing. The court was told he had already been on bail when the alleged offence occurred.
The homeless accused man appeared dishevelled and repeatedly rocked back and forth as proceedings took place.
Jahangir Sharifabadi during his dramatic arrest. He appeared in court wearing the same clothing on Wednesday
His court-appointed lawyer told the court that Sharifabadi had schizophrenia and requested that a custody nurse assess him.
She also asked for him to be transferred as soon as possible to Melbourne Assessment Prison, where he could potentially access more appropriate medical support.
Sharifabadi did not seek bail. He is due to return to court later this month by video link.
As he was taken from the courtroom, an unidentified man who had joined the video hearing shouted an abusive insult at him, calling him a ‘f***ing dog’.
Magistrate Darcy Dempsey disregarded the interruption and proceeded to the next matter, an alleged murder case.
The incident occurred one day after crime reporter Ryan Naumenko was reportedly targeted by anonymous trolls who disrupted the video link during his court hearing.
Sharifabadi, who has no fixed address, allegedly attacked the woman at random before leaving the tram.
He faces charges including reckless conduct endangering serious injury, intentionally causing injury, stalking, assault with a weapon, committing an indictable offence while on bail and possessing a controlled weapon.
Police converged on the scene in South Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon
Witnesses working in nearby offices watched in horror as the alleged attack unfolded around lunchtime.
Celeste Hall told the Herald Sun that the alleged attacker surrendered after officers drew their weapons and pointed them at him.
‘The policeman raised his gun up at him and he [the accused] put his hands up,’ she said.
‘It was very scary, an innocent person. It was chaos. It was quite a busy tram. There were a bunch of uni students who got off as well.’
Fellow witness Liz Oxenbury saw the alleged victim and her dog being helped from the tram as police closed in.
‘They took her into the ambulance and she had a little chihuahua with her,’ she said.
‘She looked distraught. It was pretty traumatic. There were so many police and detectives coming and going.’
A Yarra Trams spokeswoman said it was believed a fork was used to attack the passenger.
Jahangir Sharifabadi is taken into custody after the alleged attack
The scene of the alleged attack in South Melbourne
The victim was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries to her upper body.
The incident is the latest alleged stabbing across Melbourne in recent weeks.
Langwarrin father Colin Sheean was allegedly stabbed as he tried to stop a break-in last month.
A teenage girl, 18, was allegedly also set upon in a vicious stabbing brawl at Deer Park in September.
And a mother taking her children to hospital in the city was also allegedly stabbed with scissors outside police headquarters in August.
