A 23-year-old Ballarat man will appear in court on Tuesday after being charged with stabbing a Hamilton victim in the chest while trying to steal his car.
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Detective Senior Constable Nick Roberts, of the Hamilton police crime investigation unit, said the man was arrested by appointment at the Ballarat police station on Monday night and negotiations with family members.
The man was interviewed, charged and remanded in custody to appear in the Ballarat Magistrates' Court for a bail/remand hearing on Tuesday morning.
He has been charged with intentionally causing injury, being armed with criminal intent, recklessly causing injury and associated offences.
Police will allege the accused man tried to steal the victim's car, was confronted and stabbed the man to the chest.
Detective Senior Constable Roberts said the victim received potentially life-threatening injuries.
"It was only pure luck that there was not a far more serious outcome," he said.
The 19-year-old victim was stabbed during the incident on the night of April 6.
The offender attempted to break into a number of cars in the Kokoda Avenue and the Ballarat Road area.
He gained access to the victim's car, the victim heard his car start about 8.45pm, there was a confrontation and the victim suffered a significant injury to his chest when he was stabbed.
This is a very significant incident which saw a very dramatic escalation of offending, from rifling through cars to committing what was a very serious offence in order to escape apprehension
- Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Asenjo at the time.
Police said the victim was lucky to be alive and the offender, wearing a bandana or something similar in order to conceal his face, ran off towards Ballarat Road.
Detective Senior Sergeant Asenjo urged members of the community to lock their cars and remove all valuables.
"We need to make it as hard as possible for future offenders," he said.
An Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman said paramedics were called to the property just after 8.45pm.
"One person was taken to Western District Health (Hamilton Base Hospital) in a stable condition with upper-body injuries," she said.
Detective Senior Constable Roberts said the victim spent the night in hospital and was OK.
The victim is very, very lucky
- Detective Senior Constable Nick Roberts
The detective said the persons were not known to each other.
"This incident is of great concern," he said.
"It is a random and violent attack. It is more luck than anything that the victim didn't receive more serious injuries."
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