Melbourne man dies from injuries after intervening in alleged teen attack

A good Samaritan who suffered critical injuries while coming to the aid of a fellow shopkeeper in Melbourne’s West has died.

Van Viet Truong, 60, an Asian grocer from Sunshine, ran to the aid of a fellow business owner who was being robbed, before he himself became the alleged target of a violent attack by five youths on Sunday.

The innocent business owner was allegedly pushed to the ground in a scuffle with the accused thieves, hitting his head.

Truong was rushed to the Royal Melbourne Hospital for treatment but his injuries were described as “unsurvivable” by a magistrate on Tuesday, who said he had “only hours or days” left to live.

Police confirmed Truong succumbed to his injuries and died on Wednesday afternoon.

Three boys aged 12, 13 and 15 years-old from the Brimbank area, a 14-year-old girl from the Banyule area and a 14-year-old girl from the Brimbank area were each charged with affray, violent disorder, intentionally cause serious injury and intentionally cause injury.

They were remanded to appear before a children’s court at a later date. Another 13-year-old boy had his charges withdrawn.

“Detectives will consider upgrading the charges following the death of the victim,” police said on Thursday.

“Anyone who witnessed the incident, has footage or any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.”

Truong had worked at his shop for 20 years, with Premier Ben Carroll previously calling for adult punishments for the group of youths.

“I met with the chief commissioner last week and I’ve told him he’ll have every resource he needs to help us tackle violent crime,” he said at the time.

“This was terrible what occurred to this gentleman in a retail shop. There’s no tolerance for this sort of behaviour, it’s awful.”