JULY 18, 2017 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + THE WEST’S BEST PROPERTY GUIDE
Big digs for witty work When Belinda Campbell and Jennifer Piper started theatre company wit incorporated about three years ago, their lounge room did duty as a stage, storage facility and office. So when they shifted to one of Brimbank council’s studio spaces in Sunshine earlier this year, as the saying goes, they didn’t know themselves. “We’re loving the freedom of having a rehearsal space,” Ms Campbell said. “Before, when we were storing everything in our homes, it was quite challenging finding space for costumes, props, lighting, as well as a place to rehearse in.” They’re using their rented space in City Place to prepare for A Scandal in the Weimar, a production set in London in Weimar the late 1930s that will be performed in Footscray late next month. Expressions of interest to rent the council’s “affordable” art spaces in Sunshine, Deer Park and Keilor close on Friday, July 21. They’re available to rent for two years at a subsidised cost of $26 a week. For more information, contact Brimbank’s arts and culture unit on 9249 4600. Claire Bowen, Sarah Clarke, Belinda Campbell and Jennifer Piper are right at home in Sunshine. (Dennis Manktelow)
Alexandra Laskie
Police hunt armed bandit By Alexandra Laskie A man believed to be behind four frightening armed robberies in Brimbank in the past two months remains at large. Victoria Police is urgently trying to track down the offender before he strikes again. Their call for assistance comes as the victim of the latest attack closes the doors on a family-run business. The owner of Milk & Munchies in Deer Park was threatened with what appeared to be a gun during a daring daylight robbery last Monday. The victim’s 16-year-old daughter said her dad is doing “OK” after what he described as a “very dangerous and scary” ordeal, but that he
would not be reopening the Billingham Road shop as running a milk bar was “too scary”. “We closed the shop,” the daughter said. “They’re going to find another job.” The family moved to Australia from China about six years ago and lives above the shop. The daughter said the family was looking to move out of the suburb. The shop owner was behind the counter on his own about 12.30pm last Monday when a man entered the store and threatened him with what appeared to be gun, demanding he hand over cash and cigarettes. “He was standing next to the counter and holding a gun and then he was pointing it at my dad,” the daughter said.
She said the man tried to stop her father from leaving the room before her father handed him the money. She said her father was doing “OK”. “My dad is fine, he’s very good now,” she said. Detective Senior-Constable Stacey Dwyer, from the Brimbank Embona Armed Robbery Taskforce, described the victim as “stoic”. “From all reports, he’s doing quite well,” she said. “He was very calm under the circumstances.” Police are appealing to the public to help locate the offender, believed to be a western suburbs local. He is described as southern European in appearance, aged in his mid-30s and with a “stocky” build, brown eyes and a
short beard. He has been linked to three other armed robberies in the area – at a chemist on Station Road, Deer Park, on May 21; a Deer Park service station on June 18; and a Main Road West, St Albans, chemist on June 19. Police estimate he has stolen about $1500 in cash and a couple of packets of cigarettes. At each robbery, the offender has produced what appears to a gun, traumatising his victims. No one has been physically harmed. Detective Senior-Constable Dwyer said police believed the offender to be a new resident of St Albans, Deer Park or Albanvale. Anyone with information is being urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or Sunshine police on 9313 3333.
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