‘No need to hide it’: Accused CBD stabber launches tirade from custody

A man accused of assaulting a 10-year-old boy and repeatedly stabbing the boy’s mother has launched an extraordinary tirade, telling a Melbourne court “at least they’re both still breathing”.

Jerry Sowood, 27, from Sunshine West, shouted at times during a Melbourne Magistrates’ Court hearing on Wednesday at which he refused to answer the magistrate’s questions and told the court there was “no need to hide” his offending.

“I punched the kid in the head, I took the scissors, I stabbed the woman in the head,” Sowood said as he appeared via video link from custody. “There’s no need to hide it. At least they’re both still breathing, so at least I kept my humanity.

“I’m telling you what I did. And I’m saying there’s no family that was torn apart. Even though I did what I did, the mum did not lose her child. A child was not taken away from her. It was outside the police station.”

Sowood was arrested on Tuesday afternoon after he allegedly punched the 10-year-old boy outside Victoria Police’s Spencer Street headquarters, and then placed the child’s mother in a headlock and stabbed her with a pair of scissors before passers-by intervened.

Dressed in a grey T-shirt with a large sailing boat motif, Sowood refused to speak to a lawyer before Wednesday’s hearing, the court heard. He told the magistrate he would not see a nurse while in custody, and he also refused to say whether he had any medical conditions.

“I was in a mental state of mind when I did what I did,” Sowood 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.

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

Sowood has been charged with affray, intentionally causing injury, multiple counts of assault, conduct endangering life, and conduct endangering serious injury.

His next court date is set for November.

‘A bit frightening’

Barista Phoebe Maw, who works at a coffee shop near the police headquarters in Spencer Street, was shocked to hear about Tuesday’s attack.

The 29-year-old recently moved to Melbourne from Sydney’s west and felt the city was less safe for young women compared with where she grew up.

The cafe worker said it was common for people to come into the shop affected by drugs or mental illness and to behave erratically.

“It’s honestly a bit frightening because we work so close,” she said. “There are days when it’s really crazy, but there are some days when it’s nothing.

“I feel like it’s getting worse.”

Maw and her colleague, Sue Yang, 28, both pointed to a rise in visible homelessness and drug addiction near and around Southern Cross Station.

“Every morning when I go to the bathroom at Southern Cross, I always encounter a lot of them [drug-affected people] … there’s a lot of police walking around, but I feel like people aren’t scared of them,” she said.

Since the pandemic, retail workers have noted a sharp increase in antisocial behaviour around the Spencer Street strip from a small group of repeat offenders despite a strengthening of bail laws.

Security guard Ahmad Fawad Safi said he had witnessed hundreds of thefts and confrontations at the strip’s Coles supermarket, often involving the same person, since he started working there a month ago.

The 35-year-old said he was assaulted by a man accused of stealing a two-pack of Red Bull after he chased him outside the shop last week.

“He started attacking me and punching me in the face,” he said.

7-Eleven worker Mahipal said he was assaulted last month after confronting a man who walked out of the store without paying for a coffee, though he said he did not file a police complaint because he assumed the thief would be released quickly.

“We feel like [calling police] is a waste of time,” Mahipal said, claiming he witnessed theft on average every 20 minutes at the store.

Commercial operations manager Ali, who lives in Craigieburn with his wife and two young children, said he thought crime was a bigger issue in the city’s west but noted the CBD had grown increasingly volatile.

He said a lot had changed since his family moved to Clifton Hill from Lebanon in the ’90s.

“House prices, rental prices, cost of living – everything goes up and people’s wages never do. Mental health [issues have] increased because of the pandemic – there’s crime everywhere to be honest.”

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