A 25-year-old man is being sought after for allegedly dousing a lady in petrol and attempting to light her on fire during an aggravated burglary at a Melbourne company.
Due to Bartholemew Griffith’s deteriorating mental state and unpredictable behavior, his family has serious concerns.
Griffith, who had just left a mental hospital, was observed entering a gas station in Fairfield, in Melbourne’s northeast, before allegedly carrying out what police describe as a horrible attack nearby.
A 25-year-old man is being sought after for dousing a lady in petrol and attempting to light her on fire during an aggravated burglary at a Melbourne company.Due to Bartholemew Griffith’s deteriorating mental state and unpredictable behavior, his family has serious concerns.
According to police, he allegedly broke into the International College of Meditation and Healing in Northcote at 1.30 am on Saturday and lit the gas cooker in the kitchen.
Griffith left the company for an hour and a half, making a trip at a petrol station to buy a jerry can of fuel.
The man from Ivanhoe, a suburb of Melbourne, is said to have rushed the center, doused it in gasoline, and then attempted to light paper on fire.
A resident of the home, a 52-year-old lady, challenged him and was able to shut the security door.
Police claim that is when he doused her in petrol before lighting matches.
He then escaped, according to the police, who describe his behaviour as “unpredictable.”
Prior to the arrival of the police, he tried to start a fire inside the building, according to Senior Constable Cameron Ashworth.
Griffith was an involuntary prisoner at the Austin Hospital’s psychiatric unit when he fled on Friday night.
He and the woman were acquainted, according to the police, but she wasn’t his intended victim.
Instead, they claimed, he was having a problem with the wellness centre’s owner, and it’s possible that he was unaware that she was there at the time.
The alleged break-in sparked a significant police operation in Melbourne’s north.
Investigators spent the entire day looking through Darebin Parklands, even breaking into a vacant house close to the wellness clinic at one point.
Bartholomew, who is dressed in a red coat, was advised by officers to go to a police station so that he may “get the help he needs.”
If you see him, don’t approach him and call the police right away.
