Figures released by the Victorian Crime Statistics Agency from the past financial year have revealed the disturbing trend.

The offences included charges for murder and driving causing death.

Wangaratta had zero such offences in the previous two years and just two each in  2011-12 and 2012-13.

But the community was rocked when Mildura man Bowe Madigan was charged with the alleged murder of 11-year-old Zoe Buttigieg and Michael Cardamone accused of murdering his Whorouly neighbour Karen Chetcuti in two separate events over four months.

Wodonga experienced the opposite trend – after four “homicide and related offences” the previous year, the city had zero in 2015-16.

The Wangaratta offences were part of an overall trend for Victoria, which overtook NSW and Queensland’s murder rate after recording a total of 66 over the 12-month period.

Premier Daniel Andrews described the latest figures as a “challenging set of crime statistics”.

​Asked about the increased murder rate, he pointed to family violence as a cause of death for women and children.

Opposition leader Matthew Guy went a step further, saying the statistics showed Victoria was being hit by a “crime tsunami”.

Wodonga’s biggest crime rise for the year came from drug trafficking, which more than doubled from 18 to 37 offences during 2015-16.

The high number of offences attributed to Wodonga’s T-shirt bandits also impacted the statistics.

Burglaries rose 16.8 per cent for the year, thefts rose 13.5 per cent, weapons offences were up 15.3 per cent and even arsons – including burnt-out cars – increased by 5.8 per cent.

Wodonga 22-year-old Tom McLean pleaded guilty this month to 14 of more than 80 offences he was charged with and was sentenced to the 10 months served on remand, plus a Corrections order.

His older brother Jack was fighting his charges in a higher court.

In more positive trends, Wodonga’s overall assaults dropped 4.7 per cent from 381 to 363 charges laid for the year and disorderly conduct was also down 15.2 per cent.