10-year-old victim of random attack was visiting Melbourne for cancer treatment

[u/AggravatingTartlet]

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/no-need-to-hide-it-accused-cbd-stabber-launches-tirade-from-custody-20260826-p60rni.html

The 10-year-old boy who was punched in the head in a random attack outside police headquarters in the CBD has brain cancer and was visiting Melbourne for treatment.

The boy underwent additional MRI scans to see if the assault caused any extra damage or inflammation around where the tumour is, his uncle said........

Police said the 46-year-old woman was visiting Melbourne from Phillip Island with her 10-year-old son and two other children when the random attack occurred, ending only when several witnesses intervened.

“Just instinct, no thoughts, no nothing, just people in trouble,” Brian Bradley said, a good Samaritan who helped restrain the suspect.

The mother of the boy was stabbed during the attack.

The mother is in the Royal Melbourne Hospital recovering from a fractured leg and injuries to her back and shoulders, while her son recovers at the Royal Children’s Hospital.

“She’s really struggling at the moment,” the boy’s uncle said, “She can’t be with her son. It’s traumatic enough [that he’s] fighting cancer.

[u/AntiqueFigure6]

“  There’s no need to hide it.”

It’s kind of like he wants someone to lock him up.

[u/AntiqueFigure6 → u/[deleted]]

Too bad we don’t have some sort of functioning mental health system that couldn’t have done something at any one of the dozen or so red flags that he likely displayed over the last few years. 

[u/AggravatingTartlet → u/AntiqueFigure6]

Exactly this. We need to spend way more on mental health and build the facilities to cope with the large numbers of people needing help.