An Iraqi national accused of stabbing a female stranger in the neck on a tram was branded a ‘f***ing dog’ when he appeared in court on Wednesday.
Jahangir Sharifabadi, 37, fronted Melbourne Magistrates’ Court dressed in the same worn clothing he was wearing when he was arrested on Tuesday afternoon.
He is accused of stabbing the 51-year-old woman with a fork in an unprovoked attack on board the city tram near Kings Way, in South Melbourne, about midday.
The woman had reportedly been carrying a chihuahua when she was allegedly attacked.
Sharifabadi’s arrest was captured on video by a bystander, who posted it to social media.
Sharifabadi, aided by a Persian interpreter, said nothing throughout the brief hearing where the court heard he had already been on bail at the time of the alleged offence.
The dishevelled, homeless man rocked back and forth throughout the hearing.
Jahangir Sharifabadi during his dramatic arrest. He was dressed in the same garb on Wednesday
His court-appointed lawyer said Sharifabadi suffered from schizophrenia and asked for a custody nurse to inspect him.
She also requested he be moved promptly to the Melbourne Assessment Prison where he might receive better medical care.
Sharifabadi made no application for bail and will appear in court later this month via video link.
As the accused was removed from the court, an unseen man who had logged into the video link taunted Sharifabadi and called him a ‘f***ing dog’.
Magistrate Darcy Dempsey ignored the abusive interjection and moved on to the next case, involving an alleged murder.
The online taunt came just a day after crime reporter Ryan Naumenko was abused in court by faceless trolls hijacking the video link of his hearing.
Sharifabadi, of no fixed address, is accused of randomly attacking the woman before getting off the tram.
He was charged with offences including reckless conduct endangering serious injury, intentionally causing injury, stalking, assault with a weapon, committing an indictable offence while on bail and possessing a controlled weapon.
Police converged on the scene in South Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon
Horrified witnesses watched the incident unfold from their offices around lunchtime.
Celeste Hall told the Herald Sun the alleged attacker surrendered to police after they drew their weapons and pointed them at him.
‘The policeman raised his gun up at him and he [the accused] put his hands up,’ she said.
‘It was very scary, an innocent person. It was chaos. It was quite a busy tram. There were a bunch of uni students who got off as well.’
Fellow witness Liz Oxenbury saw the alleged victim and her dog being helped from the tram as police closed in.
‘They took her into the ambulance and she had a little chihuahua with her,’ she said.
‘She looked distraught. It was pretty traumatic. There were so many police and detectives coming and going.’
A Yarra Trams spokeswoman said it was believed a fork was used to attack the passenger.
Jahangir Sharifabadi is taken into custody after the alleged attack
The scene of the alleged attack in South Melbourne
The victim was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries to her upper body.
The incident is the latest alleged stabbing across Melbourne in recent weeks.
Langwarrin father Colin Sheean was allegedly stabbed as he tried to stop a break-in last month.
A teenage girl, 18, was allegedly also set upon in a vicious stabbing brawl at Deer Park in September.
And a mother taking her children to hospital in the city was also allegedly stabbed with scissors outside police headquarters in August.
