By LAURA WAKELY
SAFETY upgrades to Sunshine Railway Station will come too late for the victims of a sickening attack last week.
Lucy Martinovic walked into the station at around 4pm to find a gang of around 20 people beating a young girl in an attack she described as “torture”, with the victim appearing to have been beaten unconscious.
Ms Martinovic attempted to free the girl of her attackers and was stabbed in the back.
“When they stabbed me, what I was feeling, like somebody just punched me, but I felt very hot, very warm inside,” Ms Martinovic said.
“Suddenly in a few minutes I feel I’m going to faint, I feel my mind is going and then suddenly I see blood rushing (on the ground).
“I was very scared because I thought ‘I am really finished my life’.”
The 61-year-old was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital where doctors found a deep wound had damaged her kidney.
A 15-year-old girl suffering stab wounds was also taken to Footscray Hospital.
Transit Crime Investigation Unit detectives charged a 27-year-old Flemington man with intentionally causing injury, recklessly causing injury, assault with a weapon and unlawful assault.
A 21-year-old woman from Flemington, also interviewed in relation to the incident, was released and is expected to be charged on summons.
Despite her injuries, Ms Martinovic said she had no regrets about intervening in the fight.
“I would go again. Anytime, anywhere, I am not scared,” she said.
She said Sunshine was a “very scary place” and called on the Government to put an end to the gangs that gather in the main streets after 3pm each day.
Ms Martinovic said she had previously been chased by a group of young men and, on a separate occasion, had seen two young people having sex behind a shop in broad daylight.
“Sunshine does not have enough security, no cameras,” Ms Martinovic said.
“Sunshine is very violent… and really the Government should take it seriously.”
A spokesperson for the Baillieu Government said work would begin in the coming months on upgrades for the railway station, which will include increased CCTV throughout the station and bus interchange area, minimal hidden spaces and more lighting.
The spokesperson also said Sunshine Station will be a “priority” for the Protective Services Officers (PSO), but did not say whether they would be at the station before 2014.
