Roberto Urbano, 51, appeared at Melbourne Magistrates' Court via video link on Monday. He was charged with murder and intentionally causing grievous bodily harm following an incident in which two food delivery drivers were injured in central Melbourne.
The murder victim was Feng Jianming, a 47-year-old driver for HungryPanda, who died at the scene. The other driver, aged 34, sustained serious injuries and remained hospitalised on Monday. The incident occurred on Friday night when Feng Jianming and another driver confronted Urbano after catching him touching their bicycles.
After a confrontation broke out, Urbano allegedly attacked both drivers with a knife. During the court hearing, Urbano removed his trousers and exposed himself, leading to the video link being cut. The judge approved the prosecution's request to photograph an injury on Urbano's right arm and to take a DNA swab from his mouth. Defence counsel confirmed that Urbano suffers from schizophrenia and requested that he be assessed by a nurse in custody.
Police arrested Urbano on Saturday, and investigators were granted additional time due to the need to translate statements from numerous witnesses and to analyse footage from more than 30 surveillance cameras containing hundreds of hours of material. Feng Jianming was from Shaanxi province in China and had lived in Australia for about nine years. His wife Xu, their children and his parents were financially dependent on his work.
During the weekend, floral tributes and messages were left at the State Library in Melbourne in memory of Feng Jianming. The Melbourne Chinatown Business Association launched a GoFundMe campaign which had raised nearly 390,000 Australian dollars by Monday morning to help the family with urgent travel and funeral costs. Association president Christina Zhao stated that Feng's death had deeply affected his colleagues and delivery communities in China, Japan and Korea.
HungryPanda stated that it was assisting the family with visa issues, funeral costs, financial support and insurance. Meanwhile, the Transport Workers' Union asked HungryPanda to confirm whether it had properly assessed risks for its workers. The union's national secretary Michael Kaine highlighted that HungryPanda has a legal obligation to reduce the risks associated with food delivery work and called on WorkSafe to investigate whether the company had failed to meet its duties.
