A man has been charged with making threats to kill after police alleged he assaulted his pregnant partner and drove off with a 10-month-old baby yesterday, sparking a six-hour manhunt.
The drama started in Mentone, in Melbourne's south-east, where police alleged the man assaulted his partner before taking the baby and fleeing in a car about midday, issuing threats to harm himself and the baby.
Police chased the man along the Monash Freeway in a high-speed pursuit but lost sight of him shortly after 1:00pm when the pursuit was called off "for safety reasons", police said.
The car he was driving was later found in a residential cul-de-sac in Cranbourne, after the man swapped cars and headed north.
Officers from Victoria Police's Special Operations Group arrested the man at a petrol station on the Hume Highway near Donnybrook, north of Melbourne, about 6:00pm on Tuesday.
The baby was found safe and "did not require any medical treatment," police said.
The 25-year-old Wodonga man was charged with several offences including making threats to kill, reckless conduct causing injury, the theft of a motor vehicle and reckless driving, Victoria Police said in a statement.
The man has been remanded in custody to appear at Moorabbin Magistrates' Court tomorrow.
Two other men in their 20s who were found with the Wodonga man at the petrol station have been interviewed by police and released without charge.
