Alleged machete attack driver headed to County Court

An accused in the brutal
2025 New Year’s Eve attack on two young men in Lygon St has been committed to the County Court.

Twenty-two-year-old Yahye Abas, of Fitzroy, faces several charges relating to the violent incident, which saw a group of 10 males, some wielding machetes, launch an unprovoked attack shortly before midnight on the 20- and 18-year-old victims, one of whom suffered a collapsed lung and later fled interstate in fear.

At a bail hearing for co-accused Kon Gob in February, a magistrate described the incident as “like a version of events from a horror movie”.

Footage of the attack is accompanied by chilling screams from one of the victims.

At a July 28 hearing police said Mr Abas hadn’t been directly involved in the violence but was the driver of one of two cars that took the group to and from the scene of the attack in Lygon St, and he was thus complicit in it.

He faces charges of committing violent disorder, intentionally causing serious injury to two individuals in circumstances of gross violence, and driving away from the scene in order to help the principal offenders escape.

Police allege Mr Abas had been involved in an exchange of phone messages over a tip-off that there were “opps in the street” – gang talk meaning an opponent or enemy was present in the area – before he drove his mother’s silver Toyota hatchback to Lygon St with some of the 10 alleged co-offenders in it.

He had then stood on a corner and watched the attack, acting as a lookout for the group, police alleged.

The court was shown CCTV footage of a driver and other men getting out of a silver car.

It had taken less than 20 seconds for the group to carry out the attack outside a business near Argyle Place approximately 10m away, and the offenders to return to the car, the court observed.

The vehicle’s registration had been taken down by a bystander, who also took a photo of the other car driven by the offenders, a red sedan.

According to the police case, Mr Abas was identifiable in the CCTV footage as the driver of the silver car by an outfit of a distinct black puffer jacket, a satchel bag and white sneakers, which he could also be seen wearing in other footage from the incident as well as in a photo taken from the lift of his Fitzroy building when he returned home hours later.

When a search warrant was executed on the Fitzroy flat Mr Abas shared with his mother and several siblings on January 13 the distinctive jacket had not been found but a Louis Vuitton satchel bag with Mr Abas’ driver’s licence in it had been, police said.

Telecommunications data also supported their version of his movements on the night in question, they said.

Mr Abas’ lawyer argued the vision didn’t identify her client and his phone was likely to be in the Carlton and Fitzroy areas on the night of the attack because it was where he lived.

Forensic analysis of the silver hatchback had failed to find evidence linking any of the co-accused to the car, the court heard.

However, co-accused Kon Gob had been linked by DNA to the sheath of a machete used during the attack.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Tim Bourke found there was sufficient evidence to commit Mr Abas to the County Court, where he is due to appear on August 25. •