Victoria has a ‘major law and order problem’ with Sudanese gangs, Peter Dutton has said after a young woman was stabbed to death.
Laa Chol, 19, was killed in a fight when a gang of young African-Australians crashed a party in Melbourne on Friday night.
The Homes Affairs Minister today released a statement blaming Sudanese gangs as police continue to investigate.
Tragic: Laa Chol, 19, was stabbed to death by a gatecrasher inside a Melbourne apartment
Victoria has a ‘major law and order problem’ with Sudanese gangs, Peter Dutton (pictured) has said
‘This is a tragic and needless loss of a young life,’ he said in a statement to Fairfax Media.
‘There is a major law and order problem in Victoria and more people are going to be hurt until the rule of law is enforced by the Victorian Government.
‘We don’t have these problems with Sudanese gangs in NSW or Queensland.’
Mr Dutton accused Victorian Premier Dan Andrews of failing to acknowledge the issue of Sudanese gangs.
‘He is out of touch and more people will get hurt or worse until the problem is fixed,’ he said.
He said Mr Andrews should change Victoria’s bail laws which he described as ‘pathetic.’
It is understood Ms Chol was attending a party at the EQ Tower (pictured) on A’Beckett Street when a second group crashed the event
Ms Chol died after a fight broke out between two groups of African-Australians in the early hours of Saturday morning in Melbourne’s city centre
On the night of Miss Chol’s death, she was partying a rented apartment with a group of young African-Australians in their late teens and early 20s.
A second group crashed the party and left before police arrived – but detectives are confident CCTV footage will help them make an arrest.
Homicide squad detectives investigating the stabbing say about 12 people are assisting police with their inquiries.
Ms Chol, from Pakenham, ultimately died from what commander of the North West Metro region Tim Hansen called ‘assault related injuries’.
‘My understanding is this wasn’t a random attack,’ Victoria Police Commander Tim Hansen told reporters.
Friends have remembered Laa Chol, 19, as a quiet person as they grieve her violent death on Saturday morning
‘There’s no sign of forced entry but we’re trying to clarify what brought [the second group] there.’
Mr Hansen further noted that the only known link between the two groups was that both groups were of ‘African-Australian heritage’ and all were aged around 19-20 years old, News.com.au reported.
Ms Chol was treated at the EQ Tower residential building by paramedics, but died from her injuries.
While the exact circumstances of the incident are yet to be released, a resident of the apartment building told the Herald Sun she heard prolonged and ‘horrendous’ screams.
‘It went on for about 20 minutes,’ the woman said.
‘You couldn’t hear anything but this horrendous screaming… I just thought they were drunk.
‘They were shouting and screaming and the girl’s scream was incredibly loud … just screeching.’
She died from possible stab wounds following an attack in Melbourne’s CBD