Call for help over hooligan highway Knife threat last straw for residents

Alex de Vos
Residents of a prestigious Newtown street are living in fear of drunken revellers using the leafy thoroughfare as a route between drinking holes and home.
Skene Street’s Peter Sullivan said frightened residents faced increasing vandalism, property destruction, attempted assault, excessive noise and public drinking.
The incidents had escalated to a recent knife threat against an elderly resident, prompting residents to demand police action.
Mr Sullivan said he was fed up with the weekly attacks and growing tired of cleaning up after boozy vandals.
He pointed the finger at revellers in their early 20s on their way home from pubs or Geelong train station.
Mr Sullivan believed the aggressive drunks were rampaging along Skene Street on their way to homes further west around Shannon Avenue.
“They have no respect – they climb over fences, damage property, graffiti walls, smash alcohol bottles, tip over rubbish bins and mess with cars.”
Mr Sullivan, who has lived in the same street for 10 years, said the attacks had become more frequent and severe over the past three months.
The elderly resident who was threatened with a knife had ventured outside her home after dark to confront vandals, he said.
“She came out of the house and asked them to be quiet and they pulled out a knife,” Mr Sullivan said.
He described the incident as “alarming”.
“It’s now becoming physical and very scary,” he said.
“The police were called but it has continued to happen.”
Mr Sullivan blamed a police shortage on the rise in street violence in usually quiet Newtown.
He vowed to lobby State Government for more police in Geelong.
“They always say there’s not enough police but we want something done,” he said.
The residents’ complaints follow the release of recent police statistics suggesting falling levels of violence in central Geelong.
Geelong Police Sergeant Phillip Pilgrim said he was unaware of complaints from residents in Skene Street.
Sgt Pilgrim said Geelong police were operating two patrol vans on the night of the attempted knife assault.
“But they did not attend Skene Street,” he said.