A Chilean who moved to Australia four months ago says he will “never be the same” after he was allegedly beaten and his face slashed by a group of teenagers on a train.
Felipe Munoz, 31, had just finished his shift at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne last Thursday and was on the train home when he came across the group.
He said he had his headphones on when four teenagers, aged between 15 and 17, got into his carriage at about 6:30 p.m. as the carriage approached Huntingdale Station in the city’s southeast.
The teens were “yelling and harassing some people,” but he “wasn’t paying much attention,” Mr Munoz told 7News.
The youngest member of the gang then allegedly walked up to him and asked him which station he got off at.
Mr. Munoz suspected they were going to rob him and replied, “Why should I tell you that?”
“He just punched me in the face… I stood up to fight him and we both fell. Then all the guys that were with him started punching me in the face, my head, my chest.”
Mr Munoz said that when the train reached Huntingdale Station, all but one of the boys fled onto the platform, but the remaining teenager allegedly pulled out a knife and slashed him from below his left ear to his mouth.
Felipe Munoz moved to Australia four months ago and says he will ‘never be the same’ after he was allegedly randomly attacked by a group of teenagers on a train in Melbourne
The group fled to Huntingdale Station, where a 17-year-old girl helped tend to Felipe’s wounds
The wound, which was 6cm long and 6mm deep, required 30 stitches and will likely leave a large scar.
“I feel devastated. These kinds of things change your life, and not in a good way,” Mr. Munoz said.
“It almost took my nerve… I think he just wanted to kill me. Cut my throat,” Mr. Munoz alleged.
He said he only realized he was injured when he touched his cheek, felt a wound and then looked at his hand, which was covered in blood.
A 17-year-old girl who was at the Huntingdale station ran onto the train and helped Mr. Munoz.
“I saw a girl next to me helping to stop the bleeding,” he said.
He said he was thinking about his wife and “how I could tell her I was in that situation.”
The partially healed cut on Mr. Munoz’s cheek that required 30 stitches
Mr Munoz is now afraid to catch the train and has not yet returned to work at the Royal Children’s Hospital.
“I went to the market this morning to buy some stuff and I saw people looking at me and thinking, ‘Wow, what happened to him?’” he said.
‘I will never be the same person who came to Australia four months ago.’
Four boys eventually turned themselves in to police and were charged with wounding and affray.
A 16-year-old boy from Malvern East, a 16-year-old boy from Botanic Ridge and a 17-year-old boy from Malvern East have been released on bail.
A 15-year-old Clayton boy who allegedly cut Mr. Munoz with the knife remains in custody
The four boys will appear before the juvenile court at a later date.
