Sudanese-born people in Victoria are far more likely to be charged with aggravated robbery and riot and affray than their Australian-born counterparts, according to recent crime figures.
Victorian Crime Statistics Agency figures to the end of March reveal they are 57 times more likely to be charged with aggravated robbery and 33 times more likely charged with riot and affray than Australians ,The Australian reported.
Sudanese-born offenders accounted for 8.5 per cent of aggravated robbery offences and 6.9 per cent of riot and affray offences in the year to March – despite only accounting for 0.15 per cent of the state’s population.
The highly politicised debate regarding African crime has reignited in recent days following the alleged stabbing murder of Melbourne woman, Laa Chol, who was at a party gatecrashed by African-Australian men early Saturday.
The highly politicised debate regarding African crime has reignited. Pictured is a youth being arrested outside a shopping centre in Melbourne’s west in January
Federal Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton declared Victoria has a major law and order problem following the teenage girl’s death, accusing Premier Daniel Andrews of failing to acknowledge the issue of Sudanese gangs.
Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister Alan Tudge also entered the debate, claiming the shocking crime levels in Victoria were not seen in Sudanese communities in NSW and Queensland.
‘Basically the crime data is kept by country of origin, and what it shows is that typically the Australian-born commit most of the crime, naturally, because three-quarters of Victoria are Australian-born,’ Mr Tudge told Sky News.
‘But often now, Sudanese-born is No 2 or No 3, despite them being a tiny proportion of the population, so there clearly is an issue going on there, and the Victorian public know this.’
Pictured are African youths during a confrontation with police at a Melbourne shopping centre earlier this year during mounting community tensions, which resulted in three arrests
Mr Andrews was reluctant to respond to Dutton’s comments on Monday.
‘In relation to the very tragic death of Laa Chol, I don’t think her family will be getting much comfort from this sort of discussion,’ he told ABC Radio.
‘I don’t think her family, I think they deserve fundamentally better than what they’ve been given these last 12 or 24 hours.’
But the head of police taskforce set up to investigate violent gang crime in Melbourne slammed Mr Dutton for suggesting the stabbing death of a young woman was related to the city’s problem with South Sudanese gangs.
Commander Stuart Bateson said the death of Ms Chol, 19, had nothing to do with violent gangs or ethnicity.
‘This is not to do with warring factions,’ he said.
‘The suggestion that Laa Chol, the victim, was a member of a gang just not true.’
3AW’s Neil Mitchell agreed, saying that politics needed to be ‘taken out of it’ and said ‘What Peter Dutton has said overnight is just wrong.’
Waleed Aly launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over his views on African gang violence in an eight minute segment on The Project last Thursday.
He admitted that while crimes committed by those of African descent were ‘over-represented’ and ‘unacceptable’ in some areas, they account for one per cent of crime, compared to 71 per cent of crime committed by Australian-born people.
‘I’m not saying that African-Australians don’t commit crime. And I’m not denying that victims of those crimes have a right to feel afraid,’ Aly said.
‘But it’s just a fraction of the crime being committed, and to suggest a city is gripped by a fear of African gangs is just untrue.’