A Footscray man has been charged with murder over the alleged stabbing attack of two food delivery drivers in central Melbourne on Friday night.
The man, 51, was charged with one count of murder and one of intentionally cause serious injury. He will face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Feng Jianming, 47, was working for food delivery platform HungryPanda on Friday night near Queen Victoria Market when he and another delivery driver confronted a man who was allegedly tampering with their bikes.
Police were called to Chongqing Chicken Pot City restaurant in Frederick Way soon after 8pm where they found a critically injured Feng. Another driver, 34, was allegedly found nearby with stab wounds.
Paramedics performed CPR on Feng but he was declared dead at the scene. The 34-year-old man was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
The Footscray man allegedly left the scene and was arrested in Footscray on Saturday morning.
Feng’s death has sparked anger in Melbourne’s Asian community over public safety in the CBD while the safety and work conditions of delivery drivers has also come under scrutiny.
Hundreds of people joined an emotional rally at the State Library on Saturday night to honour Feng.
His wife, Xi, and adult children daughter Yawei and son Changhui expressed their heartbreak from their home in China.
Xi told this masthead that Feng worked tirelessly to send money back to China to support his family, including his elderly parents.
She said he had not returned home for nine years to save on airfares.
“He wanted to save the money and continue working,” she told this masthead through a translator.
“But he promised that when our son got married, he would definitely return. That was the plan. He would come home for our son’s wedding, and then we could finally be together as a family. We thought we only had to wait another year or two.”
Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece, who attended the vigil on Saturday evening, told this masthead he had spoken with HungryPanda management and offered to hold a roundtable to discuss safety conditions for delivery riders in the city.
“Delivery riders have to be some of the most underappreciated people in our city,” Reece said.
“They deliver our meals, our packages, rain, hail or shine seven days a week and are often not well paid… and, as we have seen, their jobs are very risky as well, not just from other vehicles on the road but from horrible attacks like the one we saw last night.”
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