A good Samaritan's vivid account of stabbing on South Melbourne tram

We've spent a bit of time now talking about what occurred on the Eastern and the Monash today. Hundreds, if not thousands, tens of thousands of people inconvenienced. And again, we're so lucky that we're not talking about serious injury and loss of life here when you've got a high-speed chase involving two stolen cars and alleged youth offenders. So while all of that unfolded, in South Melbourne, a poor, innocent woman just going about her day was stabbed on a tram. Pauline was there. Hi, Pauline.

Hello, Jackie.

Now, Pauline, can you tell me what unfolded on the tram? So you were sitting there as well?

Yes, yes, it was the number one tram and we hopped on at Bourke and Swanson Street there and I did notice the lady hop on because she had a cute puppy dog in her bag and sat nearby me and that was fine and a few stops later she moved down just more towards the centre of the tram. And then I was facing at the rear of the tram and I noticed a man there standing up. And that was strange because there were seats available. He just looked very alert. And then he walked down a little bit to the first door and then he came back again to his normal standing up spot at the rear of the tram. And then he proceeded down the central aisle and passed straight beside me And as he passed, he lifted like his jumper and T-shirt. And I just had this feeling. I thought he might stab somebody. It was weird. He proceeded to walk down the aisle. I was facing the other way. And then I just heard a lady scream. He stabbed me. I've been stabbed. And straight away then he was trying to, because it was stop 22 there, tram stop 22, he was trying to hop off then, the tram, and another man, two men on the tram, jumped up straight away and started to follow him. They called out to the pedestrians, go catch him, follow that man. And so then I went up to... The lady, there was another young girl there, Chloe, already, and she had applied, found some tissues and was putting it on this lady's back. And so I came and I said, what's your name? And she said, Catherine. And I said, it's all right, it's all right. The police and the ambulance have been called. We'll look after you. And I applied pressure, just like Chloe was doing, strong pressure on the upper left shoulder area, you know, to the side of the neck. And then Chloe tried to pass some more tissues over and this little dog, you know, was protective of Catherine and started to bark. I said, Catherine, what's his name? She said, Benji. And she said, I have to take the dog with me. And I said, it's all right, the paramedics will take him with you as well.

Because you're a

nurse, Pauline? Oh, yes, I'm the nurse. Yes, exactly. And she said, I said, Catherine, you know what happened? And she said, I didn't know him. I didn't know him at all. She said, he's been following me since Bourke Street. And she said, I've got a picture of him. I've got a picture. And then she was so worried that he'd come back on the tram. And then fortunately by then, and the people, it was a tram driving up to shore. Someone said they'd caught him. They'd caught him. And so I was able to reassure her. Catherine, that had been caught. And then the police