MELBOURNE, June 22 (Xinhua) -- A second violent carjacking in Australia's second-largest city, Melbourne, has occurred just days after damning statistics showed the number of car-related crimes has risen "dramatically" over the last 12 months.
The incident, which occurred in the early hours of Wednesday morning, has prompted police to issue a safety warning for motorists who are "nudged" by other cars on deserted streets late at night, after a 23-year-old Victorian man was hit in the chest with a crowbar while inspecting light collision damage on his 2015 Audi sedan.
The victim's car was nudged by a BMW driven by two men at around 2 a.m. on Wednesday, and the men then carjacked the Audi driver while the accomplice fled in the BMW.
The incident has drawn parallels with a similar violent car theft which occurred in the same suburb on Tuesday, in which a 40-year-old man in a Mercedes was nudged from behind. When he stopped to inspect the damage, he was hit with a hammer and had his car stolen.
Wednesday's news comes just days after statistics revealed that Victoria was Australia's worst state for car theft, with crime levels jumping 12.4 percent in 2015 compared to 2014.
The stats showed that one in three reported crimes were theft-related, but police were especially concerned with the dramatic rise in the number of car thefts.
The rise in car-related crime prompted Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton to described the thieves as the "grand theft auto generation" - named as such after the video game which encourages violent carjackings.
In the wake of the carjacking in Melbourne, police have urged the public to stay in their car if it is nudged or bumped, particularly if it occurs on deserted streets or late at night.
They said it was a tactic used by gangs such as Apex, which, in recent months, has emerged as a threat to the public in the city's east.
