About eight offenders, who wore masks and wielded machetes and knives, are on the run.
Gang members are shocked and angered by Saturday’s attack on two innocent “civs”, according to support workers as well as social media posts seen by The Age.
Chuti Ngong, the father of Chol Achiek.Credit: Nine News
“Everyone is reeling,” said Abraham Kuol, a criminology researcher and South Sudanese community leader who helps run mentoring programs for children involved in gang violence. “This is escalating. Every week, we are seeing another death or something happen. It’s a public health crisis.”
One teen formerly connected to a gang told this masthead there was now talk of retaliation to defend “the youngins” killed, and similar sentiments are spreading online among those who frequent “league tables” keeping score of gang violence.
The two boys have been remembered as bright, beloved members of their community, talented basketballers and promising young leaders.
On Monday, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush sent an internal memo to officers supporting comments made by Detective Inspector Graham Banks, who broke rank with the courts and state government on Sunday when he said that existing penalties for youth offenders did not reflect community expectations.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush.Credit: Justin McManus
Banks said rising crime in Victoria was not just a policing problem, and strong deterrents were needed. “Whether that balance is right is really a matter for the community and the courts and ultimately the government,” he said. “But as I stand here before you, I think the penalties aren’t in balance with what community expectations are or mine.”
On Monday, Bush said Banks had his full support as the force faced challenging times and responded to “unacceptably high levels of crime”.
“I also want to acknowledge the comments of Detective Inspector Graham Banks … who said what many [of] us think when asked in a media conference yesterday about the penalties which are being handed down in the courts for our worst offenders,” Bush wrote to officers.
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“There must be consequences for those who commit these crimes, which drive fear in our community.
“While Victoria Police will always respect the independence of the courts, I understand the frustrations of members.
“In my role … I will continue to advocate for a range of interventions (including legislation) that will provide the accountability and deterrence that is evidently needed.”
Chol, 12, is believed to be the youngest casualty so far of Melbourne’s youth gang crisis, which The Age has linked to more than 20 homicides in the past five years.
Ngong remembered his “intelligent, funny, peaceful boy” as a natural leader who “looked after everybody”, and said his family was waiting for answers from police.
‘We came here, from war, for our children to have a better life. Now you regret coming. Children are the root of the tree. Without them, your life is uprooted.’
Chuti Ngong, Chol Achiek’s father
Elbino Akueng, the father of Dau, also said he was dismayed by the lack of police action after recent incidents of teens wielding machetes in the area.
Elbino Akueng was at his job as a security guard when he heard news that two children had been killed. “I protect people where I work, but no one protects my family at home,” he said.
The deaths have now reignited political debate about tougher sentencing laws, though neither party has committed to a change.
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Police Minister Anthony Carbines told the ABC “there’s no silver bullet” to solving youth crime, but the government had implemented machete bans and legislative change.
Premier Jacinta Allan offered condolences to the families and said she met with South Sudanese community leaders on Monday.
Allan said she “stood with them in their fight against the cancer of youth gang crime that is breaking their community’s heart”, and called for community-led solutions to the problem.
Opposition Leader Brad Battin said weakened bail laws had started the “rolling crisis” of crime the state now faced.
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“Jacinta Allan is all spin, no solutions,” he said.
While bail laws have been tightened recently, frontline youth workers say there has been no effort to boost youth engagement and crime prevention programs shown to help prevent teens falling through the cracks.
Recent funding cuts have meant wait times for such programs blow out by months, particularly in Melbourne’s west.
Kuol said the root causes of gang violence – which include poverty, poor mental health and school disengagement – needed to be addressed before it became “an entrenched generational problem”. It did not belong to one cultural group, such as the African or Pacific Islander community to solve, he said, though he was “still hopeful there will be a brighter future for these kids”.
Ngong was a teacher before he migrated to Australia with his family in 2008, and said he’d watched his children, including Chol, struggle to stay engaged in a school system very different from what they knew back home. “Then they just drop out, and they walk around together and become different people,” he said.
“Schools need to work harder to keep kids engaged.
“We came here, from war, for our children to have a better life. Now you regret coming.
“Children are the root of the tree. Without them, your life is uprooted.”