HE WAS ALREADY FIGHTING BRAIN CA-NCER — THEN A STRANGER ALLEGEDLY PUNCHED THE 10-YEAR-OLD IN THE HEAD AND STA-BBED HIS MUM WHEN SHE TRIED TO SAVE HIM, LEAVING A FAMILY TRAU-MATISED AFTER A DAY TRIP TO MELBOURNE TURNED INTO HORR0R
A ten-year-old boy targeted in a horror alleged random attack outside Melbourne’s police headquarters was in the city with his mother for brain cancer treatment.
The boy and his mother, Cherie, were on their way to their hotel when they were allegedly attacked by stranger Jerry Sowood about 1pm on Tuesday.
Sowood, 27, of Sunshine West in Melbourne‘s western suburbs, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
He was charged with affray, intentionally causing injury, two counts of unlawful assault, conduct endangering life, and conduct endangering serious injury.
Sowood is accused of punching the ten-year-old boy after walking by him on the street, and then holding Cherie in a headlock while stabbing her multiple times with a pair of scissors when she tried to intervene.
Cherie’s two other children were with her and watched the alleged attack unfold, before bystanders stepped in and apprehended him.
Despite the magistrate telling him it was unnecessary to talk about details of the alleged attack during the hearing, Sowood told the court he would not hide from what he had allegedly done.
‘There’s no family that was torn apart. Even though I did what I did, the mum did not lose her child, her child was not taken away from her,’ Sowood said.
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A boy (above) and his mother, Cherie, were on their way to their hotel when they were allegedly randomly attacked by a stranger. The pair were in Melbourne for his brain cancer treatment
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Bystanders stepped in and apprehend the accused attacker after a boy was allegedly punched and a woman stabbed in Melbourne’s CBD
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Jerry Sowood (above) allegedly punched the boy in the head and attacked his mother, Cherie, repeatedly with scissors
Sowood then continued his rant.
‘I took the scissors and I stabbed a woman in the head… I’m just clarifying it.’
Cherie’s brother, Kirk Holt, said that the government had ‘failed Victorians (and) it has failed my family’ while speaking to the Herald Sun.
‘What happened to my sister and my nephews is disgusting. It should never have happened.’
During Wednesday’s hearing, the magistrate told Sowood: ‘It’s probably best that you don’t go into the detail at this stage.’
‘At least they’re both still breathing, you know. So I kept my humanity,’ he replied.
Six passers-by and tradies witnessed the alleged attack and pinned down Sowood before he was arrested by two police officers.
The mother and son are from Victoria’s Phillip Island and had gone, with Cherie’s two other children aged 11 and 16, to Melbourne for treatment for the boy’s brain tumour, which was first diagnosed in 2023.
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Sowood was held down by a group of tradies before his arrest (above)
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The alleged attack happened directly outside Victoria Police headquarters (pictured)
The ten-year-old was on Wednesday recovering at The Royal Children’s Hospital, while his mother was at Royal Melbourne Hospital with injuries to her back and shoulders.
Victoria Police Superintendent Zorka Dunstan said she witnessed the alleged attack from her office in the police headquarters.
‘One of the boys was an 11-year-old, he was crying, I gave him a hug because I was impacted just watching how he reacted,’ she said.
Sowood is set to return to court on November 18.
SOURCE: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16081485/Melbourne-boy-mum-random-attack.html
