A man has been arrested after allegedly attacking a young boy and stabbing his mother outside police headquarters in Melbourne’s CBD.

A 10-year-old boy was allegedly assaulted outside Victoria Police headquarters on Spencer Street near the corner of La Trobe Street at about 1pm on Tuesday.

A 30-year-old woman, reportedly his mother, attempted to intervene when she too was allegedly stabbed.

The family are believed to be from the Phillip Island region in Victoria’s south-eastern part of the state.   

Both were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The woman was stabbed to the upper body, police confirmed. 

Melbourne radio 3AW, which revealed the pair were mother and son, reported the alleged offender appeared drug affected when he was tackled to the ground. 

‘Like we should be shocked that a 30-year-old woman with a 10-year-old child is stabbed by an allegedly drug-affected person in broad daylight outside police headquarters, and a child, a 10-year-old child, is in hospital along with his mother,’ afternoon host Jacqui Felgate told listeners. 

A man has been arrested after a boy and woman were allegedly stabbed in Melbourne’s CBD

‘And I’m so glad that the injuries are non-life threatening. But can you imagine the trauma if you bring your child into the CBD and they are stabbed with a pair of scissors at 1 o’clock in the afternoon in a place that should be safe? 

‘One because it’s Melbourne, but two because you’re outside the biggest police station in the state.’

Police in the vicinity quickly stated they arrested a 27-year-old Sunshine West man, in Melbourne’s west, and seized a pair of scissors. 

It is understood the man was not known to each of his alleged victims.

Felgate told listeners the boy had been allegedly ‘punched in the head’ when his mother came to his aid.  

One witness told 3AW she saw the mother being loaded into an ambulance. 

‘Lots of police on the corner of Spencer Street near the remand centre and the cop shop. There was a woman going into one ambulance with blood all over her back, and she was with a child that was getting taken to another ambulance,’ she said.

‘Luckily, he looked like he was okay, but clearly shaken.’

The alleged attack happened directly outside Victoria Police headquarters (pictured) 

Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece maintained Melbourne was ‘safe’ despite the latest alleged attack.

Victoria Police has launched an investigation and were expected to face the media at 4pm on Tuesday. 

Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece maintained Melbourne was ‘safe’ despite the latest alleged attack. 

‘It is the case that over the last 12 months, the crime rate in the central city has come down by 3.7 percent,’ he told Felgate. 

‘But when you hear about incidents today, you know we’ve still got a long way to go, and I’m going to continue to keep pushing hard.

‘We have been operating very closely with the police on these matters. We’ve got more police on the streets than ever before. At the moment, we’ve got our community safety officers on the street as well.’

Reece played down the alleged attack, declaring Melbourne was ‘a big city’.

‘We’ve also got to keep a bit of perspective here as well. You know, on a busy day, there’s more than a million people in the city, and while one, you know, criminal episode is absolutely one too many, we are a big city, and from time to time, we will we will have these terrible incidents.’

The alleged attack comes under a year after sushi chef Wan-Ting Lai, 36, was allegedly stabbed near the intersection of Little Bourke Street and Spencer Street, in Melbourne’s CBD, on October 2. 

Sushi chef Wan-Ting Lai was allegedly stabbed by a woman while walking to work last year

CCTV footage of that attack allegedly showed Lauren Darul, 32, run up behind her with a knife and a soccer ball, look her in the eye and stab Ms Lai once on the right side of her chest before running away.

The attack sent shockwaves across Melbourne at the time and poured fuel on the fire of fear for Melburnians. 

Premier Jacinta Allan described the incident as ‘absolutely sickening’.

‘My thoughts and support go to the victim and her wider family who are also supporting her at what is no doubt an incredibly difficult and traumatic time,’ she said at the time.

‘No-one who commits such a brazen and violent act on our streets should be on our streets.

‘It was a shocking, brazen act of violence that has no place on any street in any town.’

more to come