A man who waited in the dark for a young woman to return from a night out before stabbing her in the driveway of a family home in Melbourne’s inner east was a former student of Trinity Grammar who graduated only last year.
The 18-year-old Camberwell man is believed to have hidden behind bushes before ambushing the 18-year-old woman, who was returning home from a night out with friends about 1am on Wednesday.
The woman is believed to have been stabbed 11 times in the driveway of her family’s Miller Grove house in Kew. Her screams woke her neighbours and family.
The house is owned by respected Melbourne surgeon Dr Philip Michael, who works as an ear, nose and throat specialist in the eastern suburbs.
After stabbing the woman, the man drove to the tiny rural township of Antwerp, more than 350 kilometres northwest of Melbourne, where his body was found by a stranger who called Triple Zero.
In a statement, Trinity Grammar School, an independent Anglican boys’ school, said its staff and community were shocked and devastated.
“The TGS community is profoundly saddened by this terrible incident,” the statement read.
“Our thoughts are with the young woman as she recovers, and the families involved. Out of respect for the ongoing police investigation and the privacy of those involved, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
It can be confirmed the young woman and man had both graduated from secondary school last year and knew each other through their schools, which are both in Kew.
The dead man was known to police before the stabbing.
On Thursday, neighbours and friends of the young woman dropped off food to her family.
One neighbour crossed the street with a hamper to leave outside the house. Shortly afterwards, a car pulled up and a man and woman got out and left several shopping bags and a platter of food. Earlier that morning, police door-knocked the quiet street and left notes in letterboxes.
The woman was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries, but is understood to now be in a serious but stable condition.
The man is believed to have stabbed her with a kitchen knife, which police later found in the garden.
“She gets dropped off at her residence in Kew and there’s a male who is known to her — he’s also of similar age — and he approaches her in her driveway as she’s about to enter the family home, and he stabs her multiple times,” Superintendent Wayne Cheesman said on Wednesday.
Cheesman described it as a distressing incident.
“Just a young girl who was minding her own business walking home in the safety of her own driveway,” he told radio station Nova.
“How an 18-year-old boy can, for whatever reason, think that it’s OK to approach a girl he knows and stab her multiple times in her own home is really sad, and I don’t know how people get to that point.”
The man’s death is not being treated as suspicious, and a report will be prepared for the coroner.
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