Around midday yesterday, a man was sitting in his grey Hyundai on May Street in Coburg when an unfamiliar individual approached his daughter’s vehicle, according to police reports.
Upon witnessing the incident, the Coburg resident confronted the stranger, only to be met with aggression. The individual responded by forcefully pushing the man to the ground.
Elizabeth Kalash, the victim’s daughter, heard the ensuing disturbance and rushed to her father’s aid. At that moment, a stolen silver Lexus bearing the registration “SAMWAN” arrived at the scene. Two additional individuals, a man and a woman, emerged from the vehicle.
“I saw my father being pushed, shoved, assaulted, and thrown to the ground. I obviously tried to defend him,” Kalash recounted.
She described how the group initially fled, only to return shortly thereafter to retrieve items they had dropped during the altercation.
The trio then re-entered the stolen Lexus and made their escape, running over the victim’s foot in the process. The incident remains under investigation as authorities seek to apprehend the suspects.
The Lexus returned to the scene a few minute’s later to retrieve items they’d left behind, including a mobile phone and a key fob.
“That was a little bit confronting as well because I didn’t know if they were coming back with something, or to do something,” Elizabeth said.
“What has Melbourne come to? What was once the most safest (sic) state has now become a place where we’re too scared to even sleep in our own homes.”
The Lexus was last seen travelling east towards Gaffney Street.
Investigators have released images of the suspects in the hopes the public can help identify them.
The first male is believed to be Middle Eastern in appearance, about 180 centimetres tall, aged 25-40 and was unshaven.
He was wearing a black hat, dark sunglasses, a black Nena and Pasadena-branded hoody, blue work pants with reflective strips and brown work boots
The second male is believed to be Indigenous in appearance, about 175 centimetres tall, aged 35-40 and was unshaven.
He was wearing a black hat with a white logo, a brown AC/DC T-shirt, dark pants and dark shoes.
The woman was descibred as Indigenous in appearance, about 155cm tall, aged 35-40, wearing a black beanie, white t-shirt and dark maroon hoodie.
Elizabeth’s dad, who fled war-torn Iraq for a safer life nearly 30 years ago, is now recovering from his injuries at home.
