Dave Hughes mugged by "big man" on Melbourne street
Comedian Dave 'Hughesy' Hughes has shared an incident on air about a harrowing encounter he had while grabbing dinner in Melbourne for his family on a Tuesday night.
The 52-year-old radio host recounted the incident during his appearance on 2DAY FM’s morning show, "Hughesy, Ed & Erin", with fellow comedian and stand-in host, Kate Langbroek.
Hughes explained that he had ridden his electric bike to a nearby takeaway restaurant close to his residence to order dinner for his family.
Unfortunately, upon his arrival, he discovered that the restaurant he had in mind was closed. Frustrated by the situation, he took out his phone with the intention of calling his wife to discuss alternative dinner plans when, suddenly, his phone was snatched from his hand.
While recalling the incident, Hughes expressed how startled he was, saying, "I’m on the bike, and I put my phone up to my ear, and then all of a sudden, someone grabs my phone out of my hand, just grabbed it, yes, stole my phone."
He went on to describe the thief as a "big man" who appeared to be under the influence of drugs, suspecting him to be a "meth head": “I look and it’s a man, a big man, and he is off his nut. I’m gonna say he’s a meth head, you know what I'm talking about.”
The assailant's erratic behaviour didn't end with the phone theft. Hughes continued, "He tries to talk into the phone and he goes, ‘You weren’t even talking to anyone.’ Like it was my fault, like I was pretending to make a phone call."
Rather than pursuing the thief on his bike, Hughes resorted to shouting, "Give me my phone back!"
The situation eventually deescalated as the man threw the phone to the ground and stumbled away, eventually confronting a nearby vehicle. "He just staggered off and basically attacked a car,” said Hughes.
Langbroek criticised Hughes for not immediately contacting the police after the unsettling incident, expressing concern about tolerating such dysfunction in society. “I know that we’re all like, that’s sort of how it rolls," she said, "but when you start accepting dysfunction like that, then dysfunction will rule.”
Hughes, who had lost his driver's license the previous month due to a series of minor traffic violations that resulted in the loss of his accumulated points, had been relying on his electric bike for transportation.
Image: 2DAY FM