Kate Langbroek has taken to social media to share photos of her injuries after a “crazed, violent and terrifying” altercation with a stranger outside her home in Melbourne.
Speaking on her show with Dave Hughes, Hughesy and Kate, the 52-year-old detailed the attack in which a man – who appeared “deranged”, according to the radio star – first tried to get into her babysitter’s car and then attempted to enter her family’s home about midnight on Friday.
“He starts yelling, he turns around and sees us,” she said of the episode on Tuesday.
“I look at Peter [Lewis, her husband], I go: ‘Shut the gate’, but he’s as quick as insanity. He’s suddenly right there upon us and he’s yelling full on.”
“I try to shut the gate [but] he pushes the gate open on me.”
“Peter yells out: ‘Shut the gate’ [but] I can’t shut the gate. He’s outside the gate trying to pull it shut — he’s on the outside with the madman.”
Kate quickly realised the front door to her home, where her children and their babysitter were taking cover, was open.
“I run inside, slam the door, and praise be I put my leg up against the door to brace it,” she said.
Kate and her husband, Peter, eventually managed to phone police and about 12 officers arrived to take the man away.
She’s now calling on the Victorian government to take action, explaining that dangerous behaviour has become “rampant” in St Kilda ever since residents of the former Gatwick Hotel — currently being transformed for the next series of reality renovation show The Block — were moved into nearby public housing.
“Our children walk to school and [the other day] we saw a guy get a Glasgow kiss. He was just walking around the corner with his headphones in and he got headbutted in broad daylight. It’s crazy,” she said.
“I love St Kilda and I’m not going to stand by and watch it happen. You can’t have this housing establishment in the middle of other homes and apartments without some security.”
She added: ”It’s an extremely complex issue, but in the meantime we’re not being offered the most basic short-term solution,” she continued. “They [politicians] want to look like heroes and use words like ‘vulnerable’ and ‘the community’, but they’re not actually servicing the community. The policies we have paid politicians to deliver are not working.”
Kate later tweeted a picture (above), showing a large bruise on her arm sustained during the attack, to Victorian Housing minister Martin Foley.
“This is the bruise I sustained trying to keep that ‘vulnerable’ resident from kicking our front door in on Friday night,” she wrote. “The real vulnerable are the decent citizens of St Kilda. We await your action.”
In a statement, Mr Foley told The Age what happened to the broadcaster was “unacceptable.”
“Our thoughts go out to her and her family,” he said. “I spoke to Ms Langbroek yesterday, and I’m pleased that an arrest has been made and this matter is now before the courts.”
He also said a further 13 police officers would be stationed in the Port Phillip region from this week.
