- Woman was allegedly attacked with a knife away answering her front door
- Her children witnessed the encounter, along with the alleged killer’s son
A mother has has allegedly been stabbed to death in her own home by a male neighbour as her two children watched on in horror.
Homicide squad detectives are investigating the 51-year-old’s death after being called to her Cousin Drive home in Bayswater, in Melbourne’s east, about 11.15am on Saturday.
Detectives allege the victim’s neighbour, a 47-year-old Bayswater man, stabbed the woman with a knife multiple times as she opened her front door.
She died at the front of the house before emergency services arrived, while her alleged killer was arrested outside his home.
The woman’s two children, aged 11 and 16, were inside the house at the time of the alleged attack but where not injured and have already given statements about the encounter to police.
The alleged offender’s 17-year-old son was also inside the home and has been taken to hospital with lacerations to one of his hands.
It has not been revealed how the boy sustained the injuries or whether he had tried to prevent the alleged attack.
A mother was allegedly stabbed to death by a neighbour as she opened her front door while her two children watched on in home, along with her alleged killer’s son
While the male neighbour was known to the woman, it is not believed they were in a relationship.
Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Ellway said there was little to no confrontation before the woman was allegedly stabbed to death.
“It appears as though the offender has gone to the victim’s house and she’s opened the door and then she’s been assaulted and subsequently died from her injuries,” he said.
“It appears at this stage, it is early, but it doesn’t appear that there was an argument.
“It’s a tragic set of circumstances.”
The man was taken to hospital with a “medical complaint” after his arrest and is yet to be interviewed or charged by detectives.
Detectives have established a crime scene at the house and arrest the woman’s male neighour
Police cordoned off Cousin Drive between Boronia Rd and Verona Court as detectives established a crime scene around the property.
One neighbour, Glenn Rowe, told Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper he heard screams coming from the home a little after 11am.
Mr Rowe said a family had just moved into the home a number of weeks ago.
‘I was a bit shaken up, I’ve been here for 25 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,’ he told the newspaper.
‘It’s a bit surreal. It’s terrible, I feel sorry for the kids and the mother.’
Another neighbour, Leah Coull, told the newspaper the incident had been ‘scary’ given she lived with her eight-year-old just metres away.
‘It’s a scary thought that something like this could happen so close to home … it’s a really eerie feeling,’ she said.
