African gang’s reign of fear in Melbourne’s West

Source: The Australian, 06/02/2018

Victorian Premier Daniel ¬Andrews is under mounting pressure to
combat Melbourne’s street gang crisis after another night of mayhem
across the city’s suburbs with four brutal attacks, ¬including a
violent home invasion.
The latest outbreak of lawlessness prompted calls by Australia’s new
Minister for Home Affairs, Peter Dutton, the state’s opposition and
victims to demand that the Labor state government take action.
A woman was terrorised after being punched in a home ¬invasion in
which at least 10 men, described as being of African ¬appearance,
broke in and ransacked the property, then threatened to kill her
unless she waited at least five minutes before calling for help.
“She’s traumatised. I wonder how we’ll be able to stay here,” a
distraught family member, Sam, told The Weekend Australian. “How are
you meant to go back to normal after this?”
The terrifying burglary was one of several brutal attacks to take
place across Melbourne’s western suburbs in a three-hour period on
Thursday night and early yesterday, which police ¬believe to be
linked.
The spree, which included two home invasions and two separate street
assaults on teenagers, one in which a baseball bat was used, came
despite an already heightened police presence in western Melbourne,
where the force is attempting to control gang-¬related violence.
Mr Dutton said the Andrews government must act to protect
Victorians. “The longer the -Andrews government fails to restore law
and order in Victoria, the longer Victorians will suffer at the hands
of these thugs,” he said.
Mr Andrews, who is on holidays, did not comment on the incident, but
Police Minister Lisa Neville described the attacks as “intolerable”
and assured the public that the government would “stop this
behaviour” and “hold these young people to account”.
Opposition legal ¬affairs spokesman John Pesutto called on Mr Andrews
to return from leave and take charge of the state’s justice system,
which was in “catastrophic free fall”.
The first home invasion took place in Hillside about 11.30pm on
Thursday, with four males smashing a glass door to enter the
property, where a 59-year-old woman was house-sitting for family.
After being struck across the face, she was forced to sit in a front
room while more men entered the house and ransacked the property,
taking electronics, children’s scooters, piggy banks, car keys and an
Xbox console.
They also smashed the television, bashed through walls and ransacked
the bedrooms.
According to the property’s owners, who were away at the time, one of
the offenders watched over their aunt, who was minding the house, and
later forced her into handing over the passcode to her phone and
iPad, which she had been using to communicate with her husband who is
reportedly in intensive care after suffering a heart attack on
Christmas Eve.
After the ordeal was over, they told her to wait five minutes before
calling anyone, or they would kill her.
Neighbour Alf Catania said residents in the area had become fearful
for their safety.
The grandfather has spent more than $5000 in the past six months
upgrading security and -installing motion sensors and an
electromagnetic deadlock at his home. “They’ve got to do something;
Daniel Andrews has to see we’re crying out here for help,” he
said. “Residents are scared and we’re looking out for each other, but
we don’t even have a 24-hour police station.”
Police believe the same group of men could be linked to two other
street assaults on teenage boys and another home invasion in the
area. Earlier in the night, a 17-year-old boy walking in Taylors
Hills was hit on the legs with a baseball bat and assaulted.
Police believe the same group also punched and kicked a 16-year-old
boy in Cairnlea, before stealing his mobile phone and ¬demanding the
passcode. One of the young victims required hos-pital treatment.
At 12.30am yesterday, three men also tried to break into a house in
nearby Delahey but fled with just a stolen mobile phone after the
occupants armed themselves. Nathan, 18, arrived home from work at a
shopping ¬centre to find his father swinging a baseball bat at three
hooded ¬attackers.
“It was probably the scariest thing I’ve seen â€` I’m still pretty
shocked,” he said from inside the garage where the men had tried to
smash their way into the home. “You hear about this sort of stuff
happening around here, but you never think it will happen to you.”
Victoria Police Commander Russell Barrett, who is in charge of the
northwest district, described the spree as “thuggish behaviour” and
vowed to lock up the perpetrators. “We’re not saying it’s organised,
but we’re certainly saying they’re behaving in street gang
¬behaviours,” he said.
“These are horrendous offences; no member of our community should be
a victim of these types of offences. This is incredibly concerning,
the behaviours are abhorrent. It’s just thuggish behaviour by young
people in our community who have no apparent care for the rights and
wellbeing of their fellow citizens.”
Commander Barrett said all of the victims had described the
¬offenders as African youth “so our investigation is focusing on
that”.
Victoria Police has come under significant pressure in recent weeks
following a wave of attacks, vandalism and affray at the hands of
young African men across the city, which set off a political storm.
Acting chief commissioner Shane Patton this week admitted Melbourne
had an issue with -African street gangs, after comments by
Superintendent Therese Fitzgerald â€` that “youth crime in general”
rather than “gangs” was to blame â€` sparked a backlash.
Concerns about sentencing and bail have also been raised, with a
Children’s Court magistrate this week granting bail to a 17-year-old
who had been charged with kicking a policeman in the head as he tried
to arrest a shoplifter on Boxing Day. The youth was on probation at
the time.
Mr Dutton, who received significant criticism for saying Melburnians
were afraid to go out at night, including from Victorian Supreme
Court judge Lex Lasry, hit back at the high-profile judge
yesterday. “I’m glad Justice Lasry was able to enjoy a quiet dinner
last night,” Mr Dutton said.