By Russell Bennett
A YARRA Ranges councillor has witnessed an attempted stabbing, had his mobile phone stolen and almost had his car broken into all in one Lilydale weekend.
The disturbing insight into the town’s park life came as Tim Heenan was sleeping in Melba Park to draw attention to homelessness in the hills.
He had to intervene during the attack on the girl which only stopped when he threatened to phone the police.
“One young girl was trying to stab another with a pen,” he said.
“She had to be held down,” he said.
“There was a gentleman who wanted to kick her but I said ‘look, I’ve got the police on speed dial.
“’You won’t be doing that because the Lilydale police will be here in a couple of minutes’.”
Earlier on 8 October he spoke with a large group of young people in the park about their stories, whether they experienced homelessness or had no guaranteed place to sleep from night to night.
“We had a good chat and everything was going along really well into the evening,” Cr Heenan said.
“Certainly the young people there confided a few things in me.”
But by night time, no more than two metres behind Cr Heenan as he was talking to a group staying in the park, another group tried to break into his car.
“I didn’t bring the police into it at all,” he said.
“But all the kids are well known (to the police).
“I asked them not to interfere with the car. But if they wanted to chat, I was happy to.”
But Cr Heenan was undeterred, still hell-bent on seeing his commitment through.
“On Sunday afternoon I had come back from spending some time with the family at home,” he said.
“I was sitting down with a friend just on dusk. I had my mobile phone on the table.
“Then a group came around and separated around my friend, he stood up and the mobile phone was gone.”
Again, Cr Heenan refused to get the police involved – instead offering $100 for the safe return of his phone.
“It would have defeated everything I was doing down there in the park,” he said.
“And I’m sure there would have been consequences – either with the box or me – and I didn’t want any of that.
“I still had a commitment to go through until 16 October, to listen to the kids there and tell them about support groups like Anchor.”
Cr Heenan gave up his warm, cosy bed on 1 October to sleep out in a cardboard box in the exposed downtown park.
John Devine, CEO of the Lilydale welfare organisation, praised Cr Heenan’s efforts in keeping homelessness in the public conscious.
He said anyone could be just a job loss away from homelessness.
“And I don’t think we treat it seriously enough,” Mr Devine said.
“What happened to Tim illustrates an extreme (situation), but homeless people lack both physical and psychological security.
