Knife attack leads to citizen’s arrest outside Richmond restaurant
A man wielding an electrical knife has been charged after a citizen’s arrest was made outside an Italian restaurant in Richmond.
CCTV footage obtained by the Herald Sun shows the incident that occurred on Friday evening at the Bridge Rd restaurant, where diners witnessed a woman being allegedly threatened by a man with an exposed blade.
47-year-old Leon Vrontamitis allegedly chased the woman down Bridge Rd with the weapon before she ran into the Saint Domenico Italian Restaurant about 7.30pm.
CCTV footage showed the restaurant’s owner, Salvatore Micali performing a heroic citizen’s arrest on Mr Vrontamitis after he successfully disarmed him.
The footage also captures shocked diners witnessing the mayhem while one woman called triple 0.
Mr Micali, who knows Mr Vrontamitis, approached him at the doorway of the restaurant and removed the knife from his hands.
“I was holding him because he trusts me, because he knows me,” Mr Micali said.
“I told him to calm down and relax. At first he was OK, but then he started to get nervous and started to scream — I just kept holding him.”
He said Mr Vrontamitis became agitated again after initially calming down.
“After seven or eight minutes he was trying to resist me, but I am quite a big man and it didn’t work,” Mr Micali said.
“I held him until the police came.”
Mr Vrontamitis has been charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, reckless conduct endangering life, and reckless conduct endangering serious injury.
He was remanded and will next face the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on April 20.
Irit Jackson, 22nd March 2022
