A young girl has been hailed as a hero after she was cut on the arm trying to save her mother from being fatally stabbed in Melbourne’s south-east on Tuesday.
Professional bodybuilder Monique Lezsak, 39, has been remembered as a great parent of 10-year-old twins after she was killed during an altercation with a man she knew about 7.30am in Endeavour Hills.
Her close friend, Jacqueline Schwarcz, said Lezsak’s 10-year-old daughter was injured and taken to hospital after trying to protect her mum from being attacked.
“She’s a hero, my hero, our hero,” Schwarcz said, adding that the girl was discharged from hospital on Tuesday afternoon. “She’s physically OK, but she’s not OK.”
A man was in a serious condition at The Alfred hospital on Wednesday after paramedics found him with serious upper body injuries after the confrontation at a home in a quiet suburban court.
Lezsak had been living at the Endeavour Hills home with her parents and children.
Schwarcz said she was “devastated and shocked” by the death of her friend.
“[She was] the most amazing mother and kindest-hearted human on the planet,” she said.
Another friend, Jade Roberts, said Lezsak was a doting mother to her twins and a devoted daughter who cared for her parents and had an unwavering commitment to her bodybuilding career.
“She was an elite athlete who trained rain, hail or shine and nothing would get in the way of her gym session. I really took inspiration from her commitment to her passion,” Roberts said.
Monique Lezsak was a dedicated bodybuilder, according to her friends.
Roberts, who met Lezsak through their children’s school, said the pair would often drop their children off and go for a trail walk together.
“I felt we were the odd couple. We felt we were the mums that didn’t quite fit in and that’s how we bonded. It was just an instant, beautiful connection,” Roberts said.
“Conversations with her were always the calm within the storm of parenting young kids. We’d drop the kids off and go for a trail walk. That was our thing.”
Roberts said Lezsak was a quiet and reserved person, who had recently started her own beauty product business from home.
“She was very optimistic about the future,” she said.
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correction
An earlier version of this article said Monique Lezsak was 37 and her daughter is nine. It has been corrected to say Lezsak was 39 and her daughter is 10.