{"id":689259,"date":"2026-05-23T10:19:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T10:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/689259\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T10:19:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T10:19:17","slug":"bourke-street-alleged-threat-man-who-allegedly-threatened-massacre-denied-bail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/689259\/","title":{"rendered":"Bourke Street alleged threat: Man who allegedly threatened \u2018massacre\u2019 denied bail"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A man who threatened to commit a massacre on Bourke Street and was later found with a \u201csharpened kitchen knife\u201d in the Melbourne CBD had only just got out of prison, a court has heard.<\/p>\n

On Saturday 31-year-old Luke Cecchin was denied bail in Melbourne Magistrates\u2019 Court, where he faces charges for threatening to kill, threatening to cause serious injury, carrying a controlled weapon and using carriage service to menace.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe man allegedly threatened to commit a massacre at Bourke Street. Chris Hopkins<\/p>\n

The court heard Cecchin twice called a Channel Nine newsroom on Thursday afternoon and told a journalist he was going to commit a massacre at 8pm that night, requesting they not tell police and instead attend the area to report on the supposed attack.<\/p>\n

The journalist perceived the threats to be serious and legitimate and contacted police, who dispatched \u201can extensive number of police units\u201d to find Cecchin, Detective Acting Sergeant Thomas Macafee told the court.<\/p>\n

Cecchin was found at 7.30pm, half an hour before his deadline for the threatened massacre, inside a McDonald\u2019s on Swanston Street. Inside a bag, he had a 30-centimetre kitchen knife and a pair of gloves.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would have had the capability of carrying out his threat \u2026 if police had not interjected,\u201d Macafee said. The prosecution argued Cecchin posed an unacceptable risk to community safety if he received bail, even if bail would allow him to present to hospital for a mental health assessment.<\/p>\n

\"CheccinCheccin was charged with making threats to kill and cause serious injury, carrying a controlled weapon and using a carriage service to menace.Darrian Traynor<\/p>\n

The court heard that Cecchin had been released from custody just six days ago after serving three months in prison.<\/p>\n

On May 19, two days before the alleged threats, Cecchin was taken into custody and sent to Barwon Health emergency department in Geelong for a mental health assessment after marking threats to harm people at Avalon Airport, Macafee said.<\/p>\n

He was discharged by the hospital on May 20 and faced no charges over the airport incident.<\/p>\n

The court heard that Cecchin had a significant criminal history, including long stints in prison for armed robberies. Macafee said Cecchin had breached bail conditions seven times since 2010.<\/p>\n

Macafee said Cecchin suffered mental ill health, had used methamphetamine and abused both alcohol and marijuana in the past. He was living in short-term accommodation after leaving prison, and his family, with whom he had limited contact, did not want him staying with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that he is an unacceptable risk of release on bail of endangering the safety and welfare of other people,\u201d Macafee said. \u201cGiven the substantial nature of the threats \u2026 and the situation relating to his mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cecchin\u2019s lawyer said the alleged offending happened in light of his mental concerns, and he should be bailed to receive treatment. Cecchin\u2019s parents died while he was young and he had a \u201cdifficult childhood\u201d, his lawyer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s expressed he had thoughts of self-harm in the lead-up to these allegations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In denying bail, Magistrate John Hardy said the government had made it clear \u2013 in both amendments to the Bail Act and public statements \u2013 that courts must protect the \u201csafety of the community\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"MagistrateMagistrate John Hardy noted the history of attacks at Bourke Street, including the 2017 massacre in which six people were killed. Eddie Jim<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also concerning it\u2019s alleged he made comments referring to Bourke Street,\u201d Hardy said. \u201cOne has to remember that \u2013 I\u2019ll never use his name again \u2013 [a man] in early 2017 \u2026 drove down Bourke Street Mall and killed [six] people including a three-month-old baby boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardy also noted that in 2018 Pellegrini\u2019s icon Sisto Malaspina was fatally stabbed after Hassan Khalif Shire Ali stabbed three people in a murderous spree on Bourke Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m satisfied there is high probability Mr Cecchin needs mental health treatment; my concern is that less than a week ago he was still in custody and he\u2019s been released \u2026 and there doesn\u2019t seem to be any supports,\u201d Hardy said.<\/p>\n

Hardy added that it was unlikely that Cecchin would receive mental health treatment while remanded in custody but the 31-year-old \u201crepresents an unacceptable risk to the community\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying you were going to carry anything out, I simply don\u2019t know,\u201d Hardy told Cecchin. \u201cThe risk to the community is too high to let you out on bail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking again to Cecchin, Hardy said: \u201cThere\u2019s always light at the end of the tunnel … Don\u2019t do anything bad to yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cecchin will face court again on May 29.<\/p>\n

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\"AngusAngus Delaney<\/a> is a reporter at The Age. Email him at angus.delaney@theage.com.au or contact him securely on Signal at angusdelaney.31Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-689259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}