A man has died in hospital six days after two men allegedly assaulted him in a park next to a primary school in Melbourne’s southeast.
Police allege the men in their twenties – one of no fixed address and one a local – attacked the man at Strathaird Reserve, Narre Warren South, around 3.15pm on Friday last week.
The reserve backs onto Strathaird Primary School, and the alleged assault occurred as students left for the day.
In a statement, the Department of Education confirmed members of the school’s community had witnessed the incident.
“We are aware of a distressing incident that occurred in Strathaird Reserve near Strathaird Primary School on Friday 12 June, and our immediate focus is on supporting the school community,” a spokesperson said.
“The safety and wellbeing of students and staff is always our priority. Those who witnessed the incident have been offered wellbeing support and the school is working closely with families.”
The victim, a 63-year-old from Clyde North, was taken to hospital with critical injuries, and died this morning.
A 21-year-old man of no fixed address was arrested on Saturday and a 22-year-old Narre Warren South man on Monday. Both were charged with recklessly causing serious injury before the man’s death today.
“Detectives from the Homicide Squad will assume primacy of the investigation and will consider alternate charges following the results of a postmortem,” police said in a statement on Thursday, adding that they believed the attack was not random.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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