Family of 18-year-old Kew stabbing victim break their silence

The family of a young woman who was brutally stabbed outside her Kew home after returning from a night out have broken their silence to thank healthcare workers and emergency services for saving her life.

Leija Michael, who graduated from Ruyton Girls’ School last year, was left with life-threatening injuries after an 18-year-old man who was known to her waited in the dark before ambushing her when she returned home and stabbing her with a kitchen knife about 1am on Wednesday.

The 18-year-old is the daughter of respected Melbourne surgeon Dr Philip Michael, who works as an ear, nose and throat specialist in the eastern suburbs.

In a brief statement, released by Ruyton Girls’ School, the Michael family said Leija was now in a stable condition.

“As a family, we would like to thank the emergency services and hospital teams for the exceptional care provided,” the statement said.

“We are pleased to confirm our daughter is now in a stable condition and would ask the media to respect our family’s privacy at this time. We will not be commenting about the incident further.”

On Thursday, it was revealed the man who had brutally attacked Michael had graduated from elite private school Trinity Grammar last year.

After stabbing Michael, the man drove to the tiny rural township of Antwerp, more than 350 kilometres north-west of Melbourne. His body was later found by a person who called Triple Zero.

Michael is believed to have been stabbed 11 times in the driveway of her family’s Miller Grove house in Kew. Her screams woke her neighbours and family.

In a statement on Thursday, Trinity Grammar School, an independent Anglican boys’ school in Kew, said its staff and community were shocked and devastated.

“The TGS community is profoundly saddened by this terrible incident,” the statement read.

“Our thoughts are with the young woman as she recovers, and the families involved. Out of respect for the ongoing police investigation and the privacy of those involved, we are unable to comment further at this time.”

It can be confirmed Michael and the young man had both graduated from secondary school last year and knew each other through their schools.

Victoria Police have confirmed the man was known to them before Wednesday morning’s attack.

Earlier this week, neighbours and friends dropped off food to the Michael family. One neighbour crossed the street with a hamper to leave outside, and shortly afterwards, a man and a woman left several shopping bags and a platter of food on their doorstep. Earlier that morning, police door-knocked the quiet street and left notes in letterboxes.

Michael was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries, but is understood to now be in a serious but stable condition.

The man is believed to have stabbed her with a kitchen knife, which police later found in the garden.

One neighbour, who did not want to be identified, told reporters at the scene she had been in bed when she heard a “cry for help”.

She said she was about to call police when she looked outside and saw officers and paramedics had already arrived.

The neighbour described the Michaels as a “very lovely family” and said the entire street had been left shaken.

Superintendent Wayne Cheesman described it as a distressing incident on Wednesday.

“She gets dropped off at her residence in Kew and there’s a male who is known to her – he’s also of similar age – and he approaches her in her driveway as she’s about to enter the family home, and he stabs her multiple times,” Cheesman told radio station Nova, speaking before the young man’s body was found and while police were in the middle of executing a major manhunt to find him.

“How an 18-year-old boy can, for whatever reason, think that it’s OK to approach a girl he knows and stab her multiple times in her own home is really sad, and I don’t know how people get to that point.”

The man’s death is not being treated as suspicious, and a report will be prepared for the coroner.

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