Humble Flinders St bystander reveals how he rushed to help

A heroic first responder who rushed to help the casualties of Melbourne’s Flinders Street attack has told how he laid down a bloodied woman, washed her cuts and held her hand until help arrived.

Innocent bystander Justin Davidraj was just about to cross the road near the city’s famous train station about 4.45pm on Wednesday when a white SUV slammed into the crowd injuring 17 people with the sound of ‘thud-thud-thud’.

Mr Davidraj works up the road on the corner of Flinders and Elizabeth and wanted to catch the 4.39pm Craigieburn train but was too late – instead seeing the car plough through the crowd. 

‘At the minute it hit, everybody (fled),’ Mr Davidaj told Daily Mail Australia. ‘Everybody ran to be honest.’

Justin Davidraj was just about to cross the road near the city’s famous train station about 4.45pm on Wednesday when a white SUV slammed into the crowd injuring 17 people with the sound of ‘thud-thud-thud’

The heroic first responder laid down a bloodied woman, washed her cuts and held her hand until help could arrive

The heroic first responder laid down a bloodied woman, washed her cuts and held her hand until help could arrive

‘I didn’t know what was happening so I stood there. A few of us stood there.’

So Mr Davidaj went to help the first people he could see – including a dark-haired woman bleeding from the forehead.

Dazed and confused, woman tried to sit up but Mr Davidaj laid her back down.

Harrowing video shot by a friend shows him holding the woman’s hand as she laid sprawled across the road.

‘She was trying to get up, she was bleeding and all that. We held her from the back, we said ‘don’t move because we don’t know the extent of what hit you,’ he said.

Harrowing video shot by a friend shows him holding the woman's hand as she laid sprawled across the road

The footage also showed other bystanders helping victims

Harrowing video shot by a friend shows him holding the woman’s hand as she laid sprawled across the road (L) along with other bystanders helping victims (R)

The mangled wreck of the white Suzuki Vitara 4WD after it smashed into a tram stop bollard after ploughing through 17 pedestrians

The mangled wreck of the white Suzuki Vitara 4WD after it smashed into a tram stop bollard after ploughing through 17 pedestrians

Two men were arrested at the scene after the white SUV (pictured) crashed into a bollard at Flinders Street Station

Two men were arrested at the scene after the white SUV (pictured) crashed into a bollard at Flinders Street Station

Five men, aged 25, 40, 43, 45 and 83 and six women, aged 25, 30, 35, 47 and 58, were among the victims and along with another three men and two women of unknown age 

Five men, aged 25, 40, 43, 45 and 83 and six women, aged 25, 30, 35, 47 and 58, were among the victims and along with another three men and two women of unknown age 

‘She didn’t know what was happening. So I took her, checked her eyes, checked her bleeding. She was conscious. I checked her eyes, and she was good. The blood was from her forehead.

‘We kind of washed her face, just to see where the cuts were, checked her ear lobes (for any sign of bleeding from the brain).’

Two police officers rushed over to ask how the woman was going but Mr Davidaj and first responders said other unconscious victims needed more serious help.

He was full of praise for the ‘excellent’ paramedics who came and took her to hospital, and said he had been praying nobody would die.

After being thanked for his efforts, Mr Davidaj said on Friday: ‘I think that is the spirit of Christmas.

‘There are no heroes here – everybody is a hero.’ 

Mr Daivdraj was full of praise for the 'excellent' paramedics who came and took her to hospital, and said he had been praying nobody would die

Mr Daivdraj was full of praise for the ‘excellent’ paramedics who came and took her to hospital, and said he had been praying nobody would die

Paramedics at the scene were holding up tarps around the injured (pictured) who lay on the tram tracks of the busy street

Paramedics at the scene were holding up tarps around the injured (pictured) who lay on the tram tracks of the busy street

Chaotic scenes unfolded during peak-hour as the white SUV crashed into the group of panicked pedestrians (pictured)

Chaotic scenes unfolded during peak-hour as the white SUV crashed into the group of panicked pedestrians (pictured)

The rampage hurt 19 people including the driver and a heroic off-duty policeman who suffered shoulder and hand injuries as he wrestled the driver out of the car.

By midday on Friday 12 people were still in hospital with only one, an 80-year-old man, still in critical condition.

Five men, aged 25, 40, 43, 45 and 83 and six women, aged 25, 30, 35, 47 and 58, were among the victims and along with another three men and two women of unknown age.

Many were from overseas including citizens of South Korea, China, Italy, India, Venezuela, Ireland and New Zealand. 

Saeed Noori, 32, the driver behind the wheel of the SUV with P-plates, arrived in Australia as a refugee in 2004 through a resettlement program.

‘He came to Australia as a refugee. He did not come with a people smuggler, he came through the appropriate refugee, the normal refugee programs,’ Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said. 

Saeed Noori, 32, the driver behind the wheel of the SUV with P-plates, arrived in Australia as a refugee in 2004 through a resettlement program 

Saeed Noori, 32, the driver behind the wheel of the SUV with P-plates, arrived in Australia as a refugee in 2004 through a resettlement program 

Speaking briefly to investigators last night as he lay in a hospital bed at St Vincent’s under police guard, the 32-year-old made a ‘number of utterances’ and ‘spoke about dreams and voices’.

‘But he also did attribute some of his actions to the poor treatment of Muslims,’ Acting Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said on Friday morning.

Commissioner Patton said Noori had a history of drug use and mental illness, stressing that investigators had not yet found any extremist or terrorist links to the horror rampage.

Noori had several run-ins with the law since settling in Australia, starting with a minor assault charge in 2010 that was dropped after he pleaded guilty to recklessly causing injury and was fined $800.

Then in June this year he was convicted and fined $1000 after pleading guilty to driving while unlicensed, using a mobile phone while driving, and failing to answer bail.

The missing bail charges was from when he missed a court date for the driving offences, which occurred either early this year or late last year, and which he also faced court for in February.

Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk