Tuesday, 8 September 2026

 Nicole WERNER (Warrandyte) (19:08): (1823) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Police, and I call on him to intervene urgently to curb Victoria’s crime crisis. Two weeks ago a 10-year-old boy and his mum were violently attacked by a man in Melbourne, and I raised their story here that same day with the details that we knew. I was shocked when I was on my social media and saw in my direct messages a message from the mum, Cherie, who wrote:

Hi Nicole, I’m the mum you spoke about in regards to the attack in the city with my children. I just wanted to say thank you for being a voice for me about what happened …

I was discharged last night, so really glad to be back with my boys. I will be ok, because I won’t let –

the alleged offender –

… win. I fought that day and will fight every day if I have to.

She went on to say that she does not want this to just be another story forgotten about in a week. None of these stories should be. Things need to change. Too many people are being hurt and killed and not enough is being done. So it was in our conversation that I offered to raise Cherie’s story in her own words in this place, and this is what she has to say in her own words:

On 25 August, my three sons and I were in the Melbourne CBD … after travelling to the city for my 10-year-old son’s regular MRI. He has an extremely rare, inoperable brain tumour and … requires scans every three months to determine whether it has grown or spread.

A male was walking past us, and without warning or provocation, lunged over me and coward punched my 10-year-old directly to the side of his head, sending him to the ground.

When the male turned and came back towards us, I placed myself between him and my children. He stabbed me in the face, knocked me to the ground, placed me in a headlock and repeatedly stabbed me in my back, shoulder and arm.

I was stabbed five times, suffered injuries to my face and fractured my leg while fighting to keep him away from my boys.

One of my sons was unable to run and stood there screaming, “Mum, Mum,” as he watched me being attacked. I held onto the man with everything I had because I believed that if I let go, he could turn and attack my child again.

No child should be coward punched. No child should witness their mother being violently attacked and stabbed. No mother should have to use her own body as a shield to prevent a violent man from reaching her children.

Cherie went on to say:

I believe the Victorian Government is complicit through its failure to adequately protect the public. A flawed bail system, insufficient police resources, weak consequences and a legal process that repeatedly allows convicted offenders to continue offending place innocent people at unacceptable risk.

Cherie is right: the government has let Victorians down. In her own words:

… My children cannot simply walk away from what they witnessed. I cannot take back the stab wounds, my fractured leg or the moment I heard my child screaming while believing he might be watching his mother die.