Springvale’s wildest street rocked by …

By Bridget Cook
KELVIN Grove has again made headlines for the wrong reasons, with a double stabbing in the Springvale street on Sunday night.
The laneway was the scene of a brawl between two groups, which led to an innocent bystander being slashed with a broken bottle.
Police said a group of Sudanese youths and a group of youths of Middle Eastern appearance – more than 12 in total – were drinking in the street on Sunday night.
About 11.35pm an altercation broke out between the two groups.
During the altercation, a resident of Kelvin Grove drove into his carport at the rear of his house when, police said, he was then confronted by an “angry” male youth.
“The man kicked and abused the innocent bystander, before he stabbed him with a broken bottle to his arm,” Greater Dandenong CIU Detective Sergeant Shane Pola said.
Police allege the offender then ran off and started to slash his own arm with the bottle. He later collapsed on Sandown Road.
While the brawl was still going, police arrived at the scene and the youths all started to disperse.
Police were able to apprehend six of the youths who were charged with being drunk in a public place.
Police later located the group of Sudanese youths, who had joined with another group of Sudanese youths.
One of the youths had been stabbed by an unknown offender.
Police are now making inquiries, but no charges had been made in relation to the two stabbings when the Star went to print.
This is not the first time Kelvin Grove has made headlines in the past two years, with the street being known as a trouble spot.
In June last year, the street was the scene of a violent attack on five people, in which a 30-year-old man from Hawthorn East was assaulted with a baseball bat.
The attack began just before midnight on Sunday 13 June when two vehicles drove into Kelvin Grove to look for a car park.
The drivers of these cars noticed a third car pull up behind them, then two men got out and approached with baseball bats.
After trying to get away in their cars, the two men “smashed” one of the cars when it got stopped at a red light, before turning on the driver, who escaped with soft tissue injuries and minor lacerations.
Just one week before that, an attack on an Indian student occurred in Kelvin Grove, with a car being deliberately set alight.
In May last year, the Star reported on Kelvin Grove residents living in fear, with their street continuously “under attack”.
A concerned resident, Phoebe, spoke at the time on behalf of her elderly parents and said that the issues had been in Kelvin Grove for a long time.
“People are afraid to go out at night because they don’t know what the kids are going to do,” she said. “They are high on drugs and are abusive. They break windows and set fences on fire.
“We do not feel safe.”
Anyone with information about the Sunday nights stabbings are urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.