Eastland Shopping Centre: Woman dies after falling off third-storey balcony

A woman died after falling off of a third-storey balcony of a shopping centre in Melbourne on Thursday morning. The incident occurred just before 12 p.m.

The victim, who is yet to be identified, was at Eastland Shopping Centre in Ringwood. She died close to the escalators at the entrance of the car park located on the ground floor.

Paramedics and police were summoned to the scene of the incident. The woman was in critical condition but subsequently died. Emergency services and the coroner are at the scene.

“We are deeply saddened by the incident and our thoughts go out to the family of the person involved,” Eastland general manager Steve Edgerton said. “Our priority now is to provide support to our staff, retail partners and guests as best as we can, and counselling services have been made available to those affected. We continue to co-operate with the authorities as they undertake their response.”

Investigations into the circumstances surrounding the incident are ongoing. However, the death is not being treated as suspicious.

On Feb. 1, a Ringwood woman’s car was reported stolen from outside her home and was found burned two days later a few kilometres away. Briar Sutherland said her 1991 Subaru station wagon was stolen and discovered two days later five kilometres away in Kendall St, Ringwood. She said there were several indications that made it “clear someone was trying to steal my car.”

“My husband noticed that the locks were tampered with on my car that morning. We then found scissors on the passenger seat and everything had been moved around. It was clear someone was trying to steal my car,” Sutherland said. She had taken her husband to the train station, returned and parked her car. She heard her car being started, but upon going outside realised it was gone.