Victorian Police battling a wave of youth crime have arrested seven alleged offenders for the brutal murder of 12-year-old Chol Achiek and 15-year-old Dau Akeng.
Both boys were ambushed as they worked home from sports practice at Cobblebank in Melbourne’s outer northwest on Sept. 6.
Athough police said at the time that the attack had all “the hallmarks of a youth gang crime,” they also said Achiek’s age meant it was unlikely he was a part of any gang.
The pair were ambushed by masked males armed with machetes and other bladed weapons.
CCTV footage showed three youths attacking Achiek as he lay helpless on the ground. Another boy walking with the victims, after the group had watched a basketball game together, managed to escape.
Detective Inspector Graham Banks described it as “one of the most horrific crimes in a substantial and growing list of crimes of this nature.”
On Sept. 19, police conducted dawn raids on properties in Melton South, Thornhill Park, Caroline Springs, Sunbury, Wollert, Hillside and Sydenham, and say they have arrested seven males.
The oldest are two 19-year-olds. One is 18, three are 16, and a 15-year-old boy has also been arrested. All seven will be interviewed by Victoria Police detectives.
“The word senseless has been used so many times already in relation to the deaths of Dau Akueng and Chol Achiek, because the reality is that it doesn’t make sense,” Assistant Commissioner Martin O'Brien said when announcing the arrests.
“[The victims were] two children walking home after playing sport, who should have had decades of their lives ahead of them. Instead, their devastated families are grieving their loss and all the things they will never get to see two children grow up to achieve and experience.”
The impact of the deaths of the boys has been felt right across the Victorian community.
“I know many people will be feeling shocked, frustrated and concerned in light of this matter,” he said. “I want to reassure you that locally, police will have increased patrols in the area and are working closely with community groups.”
Akueng’s father, Elbino, told reporters at the scene of the stabbing that the community had buried four children in the past month.
“Similar incidents [are] happening, there’s no answer from police,” he said.
Speaking at the same time, Banks urged the government to impose harsher penalties on offenders, claiming that juvenile crime had been progressively worsening for 10 years
“As I stand here before you, I think the penalties aren’t in balance with what community expectations are, or mine.”
Two days ago, the home of a 14-year-old girl in Cobblebank was attacked at 4 a.m. by three people armed with machetes. They smashed two front windows and badly damaged a car in the driveway before being confronted and running from the scene.
The girl’s father told reporters he believed it was an act of retaliation for the murders of the two young boys, who were slashed to death a few hundred metres away from the home. The family is now considering moving interstate to escape the violence, he said.
In response to the deaths, the Victorian government has reconvened a youth justice working group with expert knowledge of South Sudanese Australians.
