news

Bourke Street attack: Sixth person dies following car rampage

A 33-year-old woman has become the sixth person to die after a car was driven into pedestrians on Melbourne’s Bourke Street 10 days ago, according to Victoria Police.

Police said the Blackburn South woman died in hospital just before 7:30pm.

Nine patients remain in hospital and one is still in a critical condition, police said, after 39 people were treated after the incident.

Four people — 10-year-old Thalia Hakin, 22-year-old Jess Mudie, 33-year-old Matthew Si, and a 25-year-old man — died at the scene, and three-month-old baby boy Zachary died the following night.

The man accused of driving the car, 26-year-old Dimitrious Gargasoulas, has been charged with five counts of murder.

He has been remanded in custody and ordered to face court via video link in August.

Memorial to honour victims

Earlier today, Melbourne’s Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said victims of the incident would be permanently remembered in a memorial in the city, as flowers laid at Bourke Street were set to be removed.

“We see it more as a place of reflection, of contemplation, of remembrance and so somewhere in a garden I think would be very Melbourne, rather than the idea of a statue or something of that nature,” he said.

“There has been an outpouring of communication and love, people are invested in this and so they should be.

“We want them to feel that they’re invested not just in the immediate aftermath but the way we remember it as well.”

A fund set up to assist victims and their families has raised almost $1 million.

This post originally appeared on ABC News.


© 2017 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. Read the ABC Disclaimer here