By Erin Pearson
A man accused of stabbing four strangers at a Moonee Ponds shopping strip is the brother of a duo involved in a shootout with counterterrorism police on the NSW border in 2019.
Specialist investigators will continue to examine the motivation behind the shopping strip attack after revelations about the family history of 36-year-old Daniel Clavell.
A police spokesperson said while no indications of an “ideological motivation” or terrorism had been found to be linked to the attack at this stage, both regional and specialist units were assisting with a “thorough investigation”.
“At this stage the incident appears to have been random in nature and not terror related,” the police spokesperson said.
Clavell, from Broadmeadows, faced Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday after his arrest at a suburban train station following the string of stabbings on the shopping strip.
Daniel Clavell in 2014.
Police were called to Puckle Street about 1.15pm on Wednesday after reports of a series of assaults.
Four people, two males and two females ranging in age from their 30s to 80s, were taken to hospital for treatment for non-life-threatening injuries.
Clavell has since been charged with 29 offences including intentionally and recklessly causing injury, assault, assault with a weapon and armed robbery.
Court documents released to the press allege Clavell attacked people at Moonee Ponds this week with a metal nail punch after attempting to steal a kitchen utensil from a store.
Police allege Wednesday’s incident was the latest in a string of alleged assaults by Clavell.
Clavell was arrested at Moonee Ponds train station on August 2, 2023.Credit: Nine
He’s also been charged with assaults on two other men at Moonee Ponds on June 17 and June 28, and a third man, this time with an edged weapon, at Coburg on July 31.
The court heard Clavell was on bail for separate offending at the time of his alleged involvement in Wednesday’s street attack.
Magistrate Brett Sonnet remanded Clavell in custody, noting he was diagnosed as having schizophrenia and had requested to be placed in isolation.
The court heard an evaluation, undertaken following his arrest, had recommended he be transferred to a psychiatric unit at prison as soon as practicable.
No application for bail was made.
The 36-year-old is the older brother of Joshua and Joel Clavell who were involved in a shootout with police at a camping ground near the NSW border, in June 2019.
Joshua and Joel were both shot after being pursued by counterterrorism police.
At the time it was revealed the eldest of the pair, Joshua, then aged 30, had been declared a high-risk person of interest on the state’s terrorism watch list.
Police said Joshua had converted to extremist Islam and had indoctrinated his brother.
Police had originally pursued Joshua Clavell, who was wanted on a warrant for breaching a community corrections order. They spotted the brothers in a car at a service station and followed it.
During the incident at Barnawartha North, Joel then aged 19, challenged police to shoot him, declaring that he wanted to be a martyr and “chop their heads off”.
Bodycam footage showed him running towards multiple officers with an axe.
Amazing Bargains in Moonee Ponds was closed for the day on Thursday after a stabbing attack.Credit: Alex Crowe
The two brothers later pleaded guilty to assaulting and threatening to kill officers.
Joshua Clavell was jailed for four years and eight months, and Joel Clavell for 21 months in September 2020.
The sentencing hearing was told the pair held an animosity towards police over the death of their father in 2014.
Rodney Clavell, 46, took his own life during a 12-hour siege involving hostages at an Adelaide brothel that shut down the city’s CBD and followed 80 earlier raids in an attempt to track him down. The father had earlier been convicted for leading a riot at Port Augusta prison in 2008.
Police on Puckle Street in Moonee Ponds on Wednesday.Credit: Nine News
During earlier court hearings involving the Clavell family, it was revealed many of the 11 siblings had grown up in a strict Christian household before converting to Islam.
Daniel Clavell was ordered to return to court in October.
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