{"id":843221,"date":"2026-08-04T12:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T12:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/843221\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T12:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T12:48:09","slug":"sunshine-youth-bashing-man-in-60s-set-upon-by-children-as-young-as-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/843221\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunshine youth bashing: Man in 60s set upon by children as young as 12"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Good Samaritan who is expected not to survive after allegedly being bashed by children as young as 12 in Melbourne\u2019s west has been named.<\/p>\n

Van Viet Truong, 60, came to the aid of shopkeepers in Sunshine about 2pm on Saturday when five children \u2014 aged 12, 13, 14 and 15 \u2014 fled from a store with allegedly stolen goods.<\/p>\n

Mr Truong, who owns the Hong Hung Asian Grocery shop, is beloved by locals and rarely took time off, according to fellow traders. <\/p>\n

CCTV footage of the moments after shows the retail worker giving chase before a scuffle breaks out.<\/p>\n

The man appears to push one of the children before he is struck in the head. What happens next occurs out of the view of cameras.<\/p>\n

Police say the three boys and two girls from Brimbank and Banyule areas of Melbourne bashed the man, leaving him with injuries so serious he is will likely die.<\/p>\n

It is believed the man was struck in the head a number of times and that his head struck the ground when he fell. <\/p>\n

\"Sunshine<\/p>\n

Four of the teens were arrested on Saturday and a fifth \u2014 a 12-year-old boy \u2014 was arrested on Saturday night at his home address.<\/p>\n

He appeared before a children\u2019s court on Sunday where a magistrate revealed the extent of the retail worker\u2019s injuries.<\/p>\n

According to Seven News, the magistrate said the man was \u201cleft in an unsurvivable situation and it\u2019s inevitable the charges of affray and intentionally causing serious injury will be upgraded\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin days or hours, that victim will die, that was the grim message from a magistrate at a children\u2019s court,\u201d reporter Jacqueline Stanley said.<\/p>\n

The mother of the 12-year-old boy made a plea for her son to be granted bail on Sunday. Through tears, she expressed concern for his mental health and physical safety but was unsuccessful. <\/p>\n

Magistrate Robyn Hamilton said the boy\u2019s alleged actions had \u201cresulted in the worst possible outcome\u201d.<\/p>\n

Several of the teens are expected to face the court again later this week to have their bail examined.<\/p>\n

It comes as Victoria\u2019s new Premier Ben Carroll labelled the alleged attack on the 60-year-old \u201ccompletely unacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is terrible what occurred to this gentleman, there\u2019s no tolerance for this sort of behaviour. It\u2019s awful \u2026 it\u2019s completely unacceptable,\u201d Mr Carroll said.<\/p>\n

He conceded the case the case should be subject to Victoria\u2019s \u2018adult time for violent crime\u2019 initiative.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the victim remains in a critical condition, with family members going between his Sunshine store and his bedside.<\/p>\n

It is believed he is married with two small children.<\/p>\n

3AW host Jacqui Felgate lamented on Monday that the case should be front page news but is part of a wider crime problem that has been normalised.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have allowed children to think that this is OK. That actions don\u2019t have consequences and that if you commit a crime you don\u2019t go to jail,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd this happened because the government reacted many years ago to a death in custody and weakened bail laws. It should never have happened but this is the unintended consequences.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, youth offenders and children don\u2019t go to jail. They get bail and they know it. For (the government) to say we have the toughest bail laws in the country, these children … they laugh at police.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read related topics:Melbourne<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Good Samaritan who is expected not to survive after allegedly being bashed by children as young as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[415154,408723,412421,415142,415170,377626,189040,55611,100090,415155,402989,415185,412426,415188,377707,415168,383979,415183,415147,376490,415171,415143,384644,415179,163468,37956,2493,415162,415161,17192,229525,38024,415174,415167,37959,597,502,22710,381253,48347,415187,657,415169,412391,415180,261538,56960,43,392581,38324,415165,382519,415184,404625,415186,12979,2732,12756,386388,161302,412376,376531,647,13052,44853,415151,44,35062,415150,415176,6622,412419,1158,415156,46907,102125,415159,415145,415181,8825,93929,46206,14498,415160,415173,412413,415141,415163,415149,409404,376840,412389,378538,313300,378543,377667,415178,23023,415157,377511,167550,415177,415175,378658,377680,415164,415146,415172,415182,402695,377548,36723,412397,415144,415140,415166,408482,6618,64631,41,39,42,40,412407,415152,8246,415148,660,44599,415158,32388,415153],"class_list":["post-843221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-initiative-meanwhile","tag-s-alleged-actions","tag-s-court","tag-s-injuries-according","tag-s-new-premier-ben-carroll","tag-s-west","tag-189040","tag-55611","tag-100090","tag-14-and-15","tag-2pm","tag-a-12-year-old-boy","tag-a-children","tag-a-crime","tag-a-critical-condition","tag-a-death","tag-a-fifth","tag-a-good-samaritan","tag-a-magistrate","tag-a-number","tag-a-plea","tag-a-scuffle","tag-a-store","tag-a-wider-crime-problem","tag-adult-time","tag-affray","tag-aid","tag-alleged-bashing","tag-an-unsurvivable-situation","tag-bail","tag-bashing","tag-behaviour","tag-brimbank-and-banyule-areas","tag-cameras-police","tag-cctv-footage","tag-chase","tag-children","tag-concern","tag-consequences","tag-custody","tag-days-or-hours","tag-family-members","tag-fellow-traders","tag-five-children","tag-front-page-news","tag-good-samaritan","tag-hands","tag-headlines","tag-her-son","tag-hero","tag-his-bedside-it","tag-his-head","tag-his-home-address-he","tag-his-mental-health","tag-his-sunshine-store","tag-injuries","tag-jail","tag-kids","tag-later-this-week","tag-locals","tag-magistrate-robyn-hamilton","tag-many-years","tag-melbourne","tag-monday","tag-mother","tag-mr-carroll","tag-news","tag-night","tag-no-tolerance","tag-out-the-man","tag-part","tag-physical-safety","tag-police","tag-reporter-jacqueline-stanley","tag-saturday","tag-serious-injury","tag-seven-news","tag-shopkeepers","tag-stolen-goods-mr-truong","tag-sunday","tag-sunshine","tag-tears","tag-teens","tag-that-actions","tag-that-victim","tag-the-12-year-old-boy","tag-the-60-year-old","tag-the-aid","tag-the-alleged-attack","tag-the-boy","tag-the-case","tag-the-charges","tag-the-children","tag-the-country","tag-the-court","tag-the-extent","tag-the-good-samaritan","tag-the-government","tag-the-grim-message","tag-the-ground","tag-the-head","tag-the-hong-hung-asian-grocery-shop","tag-the-magistrate","tag-the-man","tag-the-moments","tag-the-retail-worker","tag-the-teens","tag-the-three-boys","tag-the-toughest-bail-laws","tag-the-unintended-consequences","tag-the-victim","tag-the-view","tag-the-worst-possible-outcome","tag-their-bail-examined-it","tag-these-children","tag-this-gentleman","tag-this-sort","tag-time","tag-times","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-two-girls","tag-two-small-children-3aw-host-jacqui-felgate","tag-update","tag-van-viet-truong","tag-victoria","tag-violent-crime","tag-weakened-bail-laws","tag-years","tag-youth-offenders-and-children"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843221","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=843221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}