A woman has died after she allegedly broke into an apartment with a knife and was restrained by the residents.
The 20-year-old Point Cook woman is alleged to have broken into the Berkeley Street apartment in Melbourne’s CBD armed with a knife just before 2am on Tuesday.
When inside, the woman allegedly demanded the apartment’s residents to hand over a number of items.
However, two of the residents, aged in their 20s, restrained the woman while others called the police.
Officers arrived at the scene and found the woman unconscious and performed CPR before rushing her to hospital in a critical condition.
The woman died in hospital on Wednesday night.
Police said in a statement the 28-year-old Melbourne man and 24-year-old Melbourne woman who restrained her had since been interviewed.
Both the man and woman were released pending further inquiries.
A 20-year-old Point Cook woman has died after residents in an apartment performed a citizen’s arrest on her (pictured stock)
This is the latest in a growing number of alleged knife attacks that have occurred around the city in recent months.
Victorian Police said an investigation would be launched to determine the exact circumstances surrounding the woman’s death.
‘Detectives will investigate the circumstances surrounding the alleged burglary and the woman’s death, with oversight from the Homicide Squad,’ officers said.
Instances of aggravated home burglaries have increased by 21 per cent year-on-year in Melbourne, according to Victoria’s crime statistics released on Thursday.
There has also been a push to overhaul the state’s existing self-defence laws to allow people to defend themselves and their assets during home invasions.
It comes after, football legend Mick Malthouse used an exercise bar to ward off alleged offenders during an alleged home invasion this month.
Another intruder was shot dead during a home invasion in Donnybrook last year.
Residents from Mildura also pursued teenagers accused of stealing motorcycles from a local business earlier in the year.
Libertarian Party Leader David Limbrick is pushing for a Castle Doctrine, similar to that in the UK and US, to be introduced in Victoria.
The woman had allegedly broken into the Melbourne apartment armed with a knife before she was restrained (stock pictured)
The Castle Doctrine would create a law that affords Victorians the opportunity to forcibly ward off home intruders without consequence.
‘Although we don’t yet know the details of what happened in this case, people defending their homes need certainty on what they can and can’t do,’ Mr Limbrick told the Herald Sun.
‘That’s exactly why the Libertarian Party recently tried to get the government to review self defence laws.
‘The popularity of the petition in support of castle laws in Victoria proves that Victorians want better certainty for these situations.’
Although the overall amount of non-aggravated burglaries had decreased across the last decade, the recent spike has been pinned on youth offenders.
Police have attributed the rise in home invasions to this demographic based on recent crime statistics.
Victorian Attorney-General, Sonya Kilkenny, however, defended the state’s existing self-defence laws.
‘Our self-defence laws here in Victoria are proportionate, and Victorians are encouraged — in fact we plead with Victorians — to please continue to call Victoria Police in any emergency situation,’ she said in August.
‘Self-defence laws are about what is reasonable, what’s a reasonable amount of force in any situation. Those are our laws already in Victoria. They are proportionate.’
In July, the Victorian government unveiled details of new bail law changes it said were the ‘toughest in the country’.
The changes will see people accused of committing six serious robbery and home invasion offences while on bail refused additional bail unless the decision-maker is satisfied there is a high likelihood the accused will not reoffend.
A new ‘second strike rule’ has also been introduced which would make it harder for people accused of repeat indictable offending to get bail.
