By CASEY NEILL
POLICE have arrested a man over an alleged assault on a Dandenong woman in Melbourne.
The 21-year-old woman was walking along Swanston Street when she allegedly received a punch to the head, about 1.10pm on Thursday 29 October.
In a linked incident, a second woman was allegedly assaulted in Little Collins Street on Monday 2 November.
She received minor facial injuries.
Melbourne East police arrested a 39 year-old Frankston man a short time later.
He was interviewed and released pending summons for intentionally causing injury, recklessly causing injury and unlawful assault.
Police have determined that the incidents were not prejudice-motivated.
The Dandenong woman was “surprised” by suggestions from the Islamophobia Register Australia that the man assaulted her because she was Muslim.
A 16-year-old Muslim boy named Muhammed told the register that he had intervened in the attack, which included the attacker tripping his victim and trying to remove her hijab.
“The offender did not appear to pull out a knife during the attack but he allegedly later pulled out a knife, when Muhammed tried to chase him away,” the register said.
Police said the victim had not reported her attacker trying to remove her hijab or producing a weapon.
