Bloody Bar Fight Leave One Dead
Date: 2008-05-16 15:35:41
Source: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,231...
Submitted By: Fight Videos
A MALAYSIAN man who went on the run after a triple stabbing at a winery was under police guard last night in hospital and awaiting questioning by detectives. One man died and two were airlifted to hospital in Melbourne after a fight broke out over work visas and rosters at the King Valley property in northeast Victoria. It is believed the Malaysian man was confronted by three other men about 6.50pm on Saturday and struck with a large iron bar. He allegedly stabbed one of the men in the chest and abdomen before stabbing the other two. The violence followed a dispute over working visas and roster changes between a group of Asian workers who live in several houses near the Politini Winery and work at other properties around the valley. Politini winemaker Luis Simian was the first on scene after a Vietnamese worker raised the alarm. "An Asian man came upstairs and was quite frantic, asking for an ambulance," he explained. "So I called through Triple 0 and got down to the first house and they waved me down to the second house where there was a man lying in the grass. He had stab wounds to his heart, chest and lacerations to his arm. "Someone had put a tourniquet on his arm and a T-shirt on his chest and he was still moving and breathing. "He wasn't talking though, and I put pressure on his chest and he was trying to get up and no one else was helping. They just seemed to be coming and going. "I could sense he had a lot of blood in his lungs. He died as I tried to help him." Mr Simian, 37, said he noticed a bloodstained iron bar near the body. "I left him and moved out to the third house and there was someone else lying on the lawn again," Mr Simian explained. "He was quite coherent and had chest wounds and lacerations to his legs, but he was quite conscious. "I went into the third house and there was another man lying and he looked quite bad." The 58-year-old Malaysian man disappeared after the stabbings, sparking a massive manhunt involving police and State Emergency Service volunteers in bushland surrounding the winery. He was found by an SES crew about 2pm yesterday and was treated for a head injury at Wangaratta Hospital before being taken to the local police station. "Once he is interviewed by the detectives, we should hopefully know more about the circumstances of the incident," police spokesman Wayne Wilson said. Mr Simian said he saw some workers flee the violence in a mini-van. He memorised the number plates and told his wife, Biana, who called police. Ten men in a Toyota Hiace van turned themselves in at Whitfield police station yesterday morning and were driven to Melbourne to be questioned about the attack. A young woman seen heading into bushland when the violence broke out was found by the police dog squad yesterday morning. The dead man, believed to be known as Michael, was aged in his 30s. Another two men were recovering in the Alfred hospital last night. One was in a stable condition while the other victim only had relatively minor injuries. Mr Simian said there had been no trouble at the property before Saturday. "These people are really lovely people . . . but as far as I am aware it is about the Asians who had visas versus the ones who didn't," he said. "It was surreal." It is believed there was bad blood between the dead man and other workers in the King Valley area. Police forensics yesterday placed markers more than 120m across the front of the property, traversing a dirt driveway and the houses.
