POLICE believe the weapon used in a fatal fight in Cobram last week may be in the front yard of a nearby home after they yesterday revealed they were still searching for a “bladed instrument”.
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The plea for information came as the man accused of stabbing Hayden Atkinson-Thring, 20, outside a Cobram service station last Thursday, was again remanded in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.
Police said they had been told a knife was used during the altercation.
“We believe it to be a bladed instrument, but whether that’s improvised, whether that’s a screwdriver, knife or scissors, we can’t be sure,” Cobram Detective Sen-Constable Jason Williams said.
The weapon was not found last week in spite of police and State Emergency Services volunteers scaling nearby roofs and conducting line searches.
Sen-Constable Williams said the weapon could be sitting in a yard at a nearby property unbeknown to the home owner.
“We ask residents to be vigilant and, when in their gardens, tending their gardens or mowing lawns, to keep an eye out for anything that might be out of place,” he said.
“We don’t want it to turn up in the hands of a child.”
Sen-Constable Williams said those living in Oak Street, Station Street, William Street and along the Murray Valley Highway were a particular focus of police inquiries because a car connected to the crime had been driven through the area following the alleged stabbing.
Sen-Constable Williams asked anyone who found what might be the weapon to phone police straight away.
“It’s of utmost importance they don’t touch what they’ve found. Call police, if necessary, by Triple-0 and police will attend,” he said.
A Cobram man charged with the murder of Mr Atkinson-Thring yesterday made a brief appearance in Melbourne Magistrates Court.
Raad Kamil Ajil, 27, did not say anything during his appearance, but smiled at supporters in court and waved to them when he was escorted out.
Ajil handed himself in to police in Broadmeadows last Friday.
Magistrate Thomas Hassard remanded Ajil to return to court on April 28.