Man Dies After Stabbing

The Sunday Age

Sunday December 3, 2006

MARK RUSSELL, KATE HAGAN

A MAN was stabbed and staggered more than 50 metres down a Ferntree Gully street early yesterday before collapsing and later dying in hospital.

The victim, 26, had stab wounds to the upper body after an argument at an Underwood Road unit just after midnight.

Police said the victim had been visiting unit 1 - one of a block of four across the road from the railway line.

Alcohol was believed to have been a factor in the stabbing.

A passing motorist stopped to help the seriously wounded man, of Ferntree Gully, and he was rushed to the nearby William Angliss Hospital where he later died.

A second man, 20, was discovered by police inside the unit with apparent self-inflicted stab wounds to the chest.

He was arrested and flown to the Alfred Hospital for treatment, and was in a stable condition last night under police guard.

Police later recovered several knives at the unit.

The two men, according to police, had been more acquaintances than friends.

A neighbour, Evan Jackson, said he was going out for the night when he saw two people helping the injured man on the road just after midnight.

"I thought, 'Oh well, there's a few people here and if something's wrong they can call the cops and sort it out'," Mr Jackson told The Sunday Age.

"Then I drove off and I come back this morning and it's a homicide."

He had not heard any fighting or loud arguments coming from unit 1 before he left.

Mr Jackson said two men, including a volunteer firefighter, had been renting the unit for about six months.

Police cordoned off the unit yesterday.

Homicide Detective Acting Sergeant Adam Forehan said police had been called to the scene at 12.10am after a report that a man with stab wounds was lying on the street.

"The circumstances of the person's death and the injuries to the other male are the subject of a homicide investigation," Sergeant Forehan said.

"We have no idea at this stage of the exact circumstances surrounding why the male received the stab wounds."

The dead man's name has not been released by police.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or go to the website, www.crimestoppers.com.au

e with any information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or go to the website, www.crimestoppers.com.au

© 2006 The Sunday Age

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