Gang attacks Christmas charity workers

A charity worker and his wife had their peaceful Christmas Eve shattered in a "random and cowardly" attack by a gang of teenagers.

Paul and his wife Ilse, whose surnames have been withheld, had just finished watching Carols by Candlelight when they were disturbed by a noise outside their home.

At his wife's request, the 56-year-old went to investigate to find a group of teenagers had kicked over a bin outside their Noble Park property in Melbourne's south-east.

But when he confronted the youths, they turned on him, kicking and beating him about the head and face before one of the gang turned on Ilse, 68, who had followed her husband outside.

"I turned around to see where the wife was and seen her lying on the ground, struggling to get up - it broke my heart to see a woman being treated like that," Paul recalled on Friday.

"The last thing I remember is getting the biggest kick in the head, I thought I was in deep trouble.

"I thought the wife was inside calling triple-0 but unfortunately she got involved. I can defend myself but I couldn't do it against three people.

"The last thing they said before they left is 'don't worry, you've proved you're a man'. Now, to me, to prove that I'm a man, to have to go through that crap ... nobody should have to.

"The way they acted ... that's not being a man."

Throughout the attack, the youths - who police describe as dark-skinned and one Asian male - laughed and mocked the couple.

Paul, a volunteer at a Dandenong-based asylum seekers' charity - was left with facial fractures and two black eyes, and forced to spend Christmas Day in hospital, while his wife, also suffered some facial injuries.

Paul said he suspected his attackers to be of African and Asian origin and urged them not to be drawn into the same sorts of problems that they might have fled in their homeland.

"I work in a place that helps people like this. When you see these other ones that are caught in the past, all I'd say to them is 'this is Australia, you've got an opportunity, make the most if it, don't ruin it for your families and friends'," he added.

"These people who do these things have got to think about the other people that are living here.

"Their future's here, not back where they came from. Their future's in Australia. I feel sorry for their parents and the other ones that are struggling to overcome (their) past."

Victoria Police Detective Sergeant Michael Martin described the attack as "random and cowardly" and urged the youths to give themselves up.

"This attack was outrageous and a case of pack mentality," Det Sgt Martin said.

"Attacks like this shouldn't be happening on older people in our community, it shouldn't be happening on anyone.

"I'd call on any those men to come forward. We'd like to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible to prevent this from happening to anyone else."