Precis

Fear and race on the streets of Melbourne.

"They're portraying us right now like we're demons." Young Sudanese man

For more than two years, the media has been reporting that Melbourne is in the grip of a crimewave, overrun by African street gangs responsible for a wave of violence and theft.

"We need to call it for what it is, of course this is African gang violence... people are scared to go out to restaurants of a night-time because they're followed home by these gangs." Peter Dutton, Federal Home Affairs Minister

Images of brawling Sudanese teens and hooded armed robbers have spread terror and stoked a growing anger towards those "of African appearance".

"You get stared at. Imagine someone's looking through you or looking ... someone's eyes are just burning into the side of your head. That's what it feels like." Young Sudanese man

Some residents say they are living in fear, the Sudanese community feels under siege and police are being accused of political correctness and inaction.

"They do all these criminal acts and you see on the news that they get away with it. Why do they get away with it?" Resident

Amongst the claims and counter claims, Four Corners reporter Sophie McNeill has spent weeks on the ground to get to the truth about "African" crime.

"We're seeing headlines and reporting that exacerbates the problem. Reporting on things that we're not necessarily seeing." Senior Victoria Police officer

With unprecedented access to the police and the state's chief Judge, the program separates perception from reality.

"I think it's really important that the public be properly informed about what we're doing. It's their right to be properly informed." Chief Judge

Aerials. Melbourne suburb. Trains. Super:
Sunshine, Melbourne 7:00pm

00:12

Police car on patrol

POLICE RADIO : 1-5-0 go ahead.

DETECTIVE ACTING INSPECTOR HELEN CHUGG: Yeah Brimbank 150, just let you know we are code one and we will be patrolling around the Sunshine CBD.

00:22

Chugg and Forster on patrol in police car

POLICE RADIO: Roger that.

00:34

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Detective Acting Inspector Helen Chugg and Senior Sergeant Jason Forster are out on patrol in Melbourne’s north western suburbs.

00:39

SENIOR SERGEANT JASON FORSTER: That’s on the way.

DETECTIVE ACTING INSPECTOR HELEN CHUGG: Yep.

00:47

SENIOR SERGEANT JASON FORSTER: 2-60 how many suspects are we looking for?

00:51

POLICE RADIO: Priority one hot agg burg and a vehicle stolen. Four offenders that have jumped into the complainant’s vehicle and decamped from the address two minutes ago. It's four male heads on board. Hoodies, jeans, Caucasian, two dark skinned males. Don’t have a direction of travel.

00:58

DETECTIVE ACTING INSPECTOR HELEN CHUGG: So where was the car last seen?... Okay, so what’s the situation there now?

01:12

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Reports of a home invasion are coming in.

01:17

Police officers attend home invasion. Super:
Cairnlea, Melbourne 7:10pm

01:21

POLICEMAN AT SCENE: Front fly wire door was unlocked. The solid timber door behind it was locked.

01:25

They’ve kicked that in, damaged the lock.

01:32

The four family members were seated around the kitchen table.

01:36

Made a demand for keys to the Audi, then they’ve decamped back out the front door, got in the Audi, drove off.

01:40

SENIOR SERGEANT JASON FORSTER: Okay, yeah, if you can just get the units to keep an eye out for a black Audi 2013.

01:49

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Seems to be quite a brazen crime, isn’t it, to kick in the door of someone’s home, while they're at home?

01:56

McNeill with Det. Chugg

DETECTIVE ACTING INSPECTOR HELEN CHUGG: Yeah, it’s horrendous. Yeah, it’s a horrendous crime, you know, absolutely it is, you know, when you kick in someone’s door when they're at home, for sure.

02:03

McNeill with Jonny

 JONNY: I got home as soon as I can.

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Jonny’s parents and sisters were inside when it happened. 

02:10

JONNY: They just told me to just wait outside.

02:17

I don't know anything beyond that, to be honest.

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: How are you feeling right now?

JONNY: I feel a little bit distraught, yeah. You know, I didn't expect to come home to this. 

02:20

Police officers at home invasion

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Violent home invasions like this have residents in these suburbs on edge.

02:29

Street light. Super:
2 March
Kings Park
11:00pm

02:37

Meurer home exteriors. Night

In March, Leah and her husband Gavin were asleep when four teenagers broke down their back door. 

02:42

LEAH MEURER: I just remember just yelling and just screaming at us to just shut up and just give us money,

02:50

Leah Meurer 100%. Super:
LEAH MEURER

and Gavin got out of the bed and physically pushed -- we had two of them in the room, and he got up and physically pushed them out and shut the bedroom door on them.

02:57

Meurer home interiors

He's then grabbed a baseball bat from underneath the bed, at which point a hammer's come through the bedroom door

03:09

Leah 100%

multiple times of them trying to get in with literally our entire body weight on the door, trying to prevent them from getting to us.

03:19

Channel 9 news footage taken from home security cameras. Theft of cars

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Home security cameras captured Gavin chasing the young men out the front, but he couldn’t stop them stealing both their cars.

LEAH MEURER: It's too traumatising for me to go back there and remember it.

03:27

Leah 100%

I don't know how they can say that the crime rate is falling, because like everyone I know doesn't, nobody feels safe.

03:47

Channel 9 news footage taken from home security cameras. Leah and Gavin at front of house

03:58

Meurer home interiors

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: The teenagers described as being of African appearance are still on the run.

LEAH MEURER: Every time I see a black person down the street or just anywhere, it's like a trigger.

04:02

Leah 100%

Before all of this happened, I wasn't scared of black people or people of colour or whatever, but now I can't even face someone in a store that's black, because of what's happened to me. I think that's really unfair, and it shouldn't be like that. [cries] It's not them. They haven't done anything wrong to me, but I can't help but associate that night with them, and that's what's really unfair.

04:18

Aerials. Melbourne suburb. Night

Music

05:01

NEWS #1: We just need to call it for what it is, of course this is African gang violence.

NEWS #2: African gangs running riot, terrorising, robbing, wreaking havoc.

NEWS #3: People are scared to go out to restaurants of a night-time because they’re followed home by these gangs.

05:08

Ext. Gym. Night. Titan and friends walk to gym

05:18

TITAN DEBIRIOUN: You feel like you have to be on your best behaviour 24/7 because you feel like you're representing your skin colour for everyone that's just like you. So, you have to be

05:27

Titan 100%. Super:
TITAN DEBIRIOUN

an extra nice person, extra smart. Even if you're not feeling it that day, you just have to have a smile on, because if you don't you look scary.

05:34

Ext. Kebab shop. Night

You get stared at.

05:41

Titan and friends at kebab shop

Imagine someone's looking through you or looking...

05:43

Titan 100%

someone's eyes are just burning into the side of your head. That's what it feels like, essentially.

05:47

Interior. Kebab shop. Titan and friends

Music

05:50

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: 20-year-old Titan was separated at birth from his parents during Sudan’s brutal civil war – he hasn’t seen them since.

TITAN DEBIRIOUN: When I was born,

06:03

Titan 100%

the war and everything was happening. So me and my mum were separated. But my grandma, being the hero she is, and the strong lady she is, took me with her.

06:15

Interior. Kebab shop. Titan and friends. Man with beard watches

06:22

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Melbourne has been his home since he was five.

06:28

Titan interview in kebab shop

TITAN DEBIRIOUN: I’ve been in Fitzroy ever since and it is creative as hell, so I am trying to move there, but I don’t know how much it costs.

06:32

Interior. Kebab shop. Titan and friends.

TITAN DEBIRIOUN: Every day I have to try to convince you I'm Australian. I think, you know what,

06:43

Titan 100%

we know we're Australian. We grew up here. Why should I have to convince you I'm Australian?

06:47

Traffic. Night. Titan and friends in car singing

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Wherever they go, Titan and his friends feel judged.

TITAN DEBIRIOUN: You got to realise it's not, it's like one percent of us, right? There's crime in every single race.

06:52

Titan 100%

There's people that commit crime in every single race. But with us, for some reason, it gets put onto the whole culture. The whole, our whole, you know, culture gets blamed for the actions of the few now.

07:15

Titan and friends in car singing

07:28

Melbourne skyline from car. Night.

Music

07:41

Melbourne CBD GVs. Night

07:44

NEWS: Two armed gangs of young thugs are threatening a violent confrontation at tonight’s Moomba festival.

07:50

File footage. Gang violence in Melbourne. Super:
11 March 2016
Melbourne

Police arrived to reclaim the streets, but it was too late and they were outnumbered.

07:57

Channel 9 news footage of violence

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: The focus on African gang crime began in March 2016 - when violence broke out at the Moomba festival at Federation Square in the centre of Melbourne.

08:14

COMMANDER TIM HANSEN, VICTORIA POLICE: We had two groups of African young people coming together in Melbourne.

08:25

Hansen interview. Super:
COMMANDER TIM HANSEN
Victoria Police

There was a fight broke out and it became a rolling ball, if you like. Some of that was because police became involved and we started chasing these young people.

08:30

Young men running through street

People were seeing chairs being thrown, they were seeing people being chased down the street by police, and that created a whole narrative in the media at the time and a lot of political pressure.

08:38

TITAN DEBIRIOUN: I mean, you saw the videos.

08:51

Titan 100%

Those are stupid kids that got riled up, right? That did dumb stuff, it's not right what they did. I don't agree with it at all. It was stupid.

08:54

File footage. Gang violence, Melbourne

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Police charged 37 people over the Moomba violence… several were linked to a group known as the Apex gang.

09:04

Bateson 100%. Super:
COMMANDER STUART BATESON
Victoria Police

COMMANDER STUART BATESON, VICTORIA POLICE: They were just a bunch of young kids from a small area of Dandenong is where it started. Largely people from a South Sudanese background, although we did have some Maoris and people from other Pacific Islanders in that group.

09:18

File footage. Gang violence, Melbourne

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Apex was notorious for home invasions and car jackings in the city’s south east.

09:34

Police say at its peak the group numbered around 130 young men.

09:42

But after an intense crackdown on Apex, police say it’s now been dismantled.  

09:47

COMMANDER STUART BATESON, VICTORIA POLICE: We just don't see them. We're just not seeing that tag or that group

09:55

Bateson 100%

in our crimes anymore.

09:59

Aerials. Melbourne freeways

NEWS: Victoria Police are facing further criticism with claims they have lost control to street gangs.

NEWS: We have mayhem, we have anarchy.

NEWS : There is a specific problem in Victoria, to do with people of African background.

NEWS : We need true law and order, we need safety.

10:03

Exteriors. Sunshine police station

Music

10:19

Chugg 100%. Super:
DET. ACTING INSPECTOR HELEN CHUGG
Victoria Police

DETECTIVE ACTING INSPECTOR HELEN CHUGG: I don't see it as a violent African gang crisis, no.

Certainly, we have an issue, we have an issue with our youth in this state, but I believe that we are containing that issue.

10:25

Sunshine CIB briefing. Super:
Wayward Taskforce briefing, Sunshine Police Station 8:30pm

10:38

Chugg at briefing

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Detective Acting Inspector Chugg is briefing her team before another night out on patrol.

10:43

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: They're part of a dedicated taskforce tackling youth crime in Melbourne’s west.

11:00

DETECTIVE ACTING INSPECTOR HELEN CHUGG: So the Wayward Taskforce came about as a result of the evolution of the home invasion offence

11:06

Chugg 100%

and car-jackings and armed robberies that we were seeing being committed by multiple youth.

11:12

Night. Police on patrol

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: People born in Sudan make up 0.1% of Victoria’s population, but account for 1 percent of the state’s alleged criminal offenders.

11:21

Young Sudanese males are overrepresented in certain violent crimes - allegedly committing close to 10% of aggravated robberies.

11:32

The Wayward Taskforce is currently monitoring around 80 youth offenders, of which police say a large portion are from the South Sudanese community.

11:43

STUART BATESON, COMMANDER AFRICAN TASKFORCE: We do know that they're responsible disproportionally

11:53

Bateson 100%

for some of those high crime or high harm offences, particularly aggravated burglaries and robberies. So that's concerning for us, and that's the issue that we've been dealing with for a couple years now.

11:56

In terms of numbers, overall numbers for that high crime, that high impact crime, the numbers are quite small.

12:08

Police van

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Victoria had a spike in violent crime in 2016 and aggravated burglaries are still at some of the highest levels in five years. But over the last two years there has been a decrease in violent crime.

12:21

COMMANDER STUART BATESON, VICTORIA POLICE: When you look at youth crime in particular, we have the second lowest

12:37

Bateson 100%

youth crime rate in Australia, only behind the ACT.

12:41

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: The Productivity Commission measures Victoria now as the most fearful state in the nation. Why are people feeling so scared if crime is dropping?

12:44

COMMANDER STUART BATESON, VICTORIA POLICE: Yeah, I think that's a really interesting one, and certainly one of the things that Victoria Police, and the community really need to focus on, not only do people have to be safe, they have to feel safe. So, there's a lot of perception issues I think that we need to deal with as well.

12:54

Melbourne. Night. Teens on street

Mi

13:09

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Victoria has the largest South Sudanese population in Australia, with approximately 9,000 people. It’s an overwhelmingly young community – which is the peak age for criminal offending.

13:18

Bateson 100%. Super:
COMMANDER STUART BATESON
Victoria Police

COMMANDER STUART BATESON, VICTORIA POLICE: When we look at the commonalities across offenders we know there's a really strong connection to low socioeconomic communities. There's a real connection to people that have breakdowns in their family structures, in their community, and their cultures.

13:33

Aerials. Suburban houses. Super:
West Sunshine, Melbourne 1:00pm

Music

13:48

Signage 'Positive Parenting Forum'/People at forum

DR SANTINO DENG, Counsellor: We are actually doing a lot of things that people don’t know that we are trying our best.

13:54

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Over the past few months; counsellor Dr Santino Deng has been running parenting workshops for South Sudanese families.

10:03

These parents are in despair at how their community is being portrayed – and they want tips on how to keep their kids out of trouble.

14:12

Woman attending forum

MOTHER (SUBTITLE): You ask yourself ‘God why did I come here?’ Why would a person come here looking for a better life but be faced with so many problems? It makes our heads hurt. We are blamed for not taking care of our kids. But they’re not listening to us.

14:22

Deng conducts forum

DR SANTINO DENG, Counsellor: A lot of parents are very depressed and stressed and angry

14:42

Deng 100%. Super:
DR SANTINO DENG
Counsellor

sometime toward their own children as well for some of the issues that young people are doing.

14:47

People at forum

They come from a culture where parenting was done differently, now in Australia you cannot do it maybe the way they used to do it.

14:55

Deng conducting forum

DR SANTINO DENG, Counsellor: For example, where we came from you are allowed to hit your kids. But over here you have to stop that.

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Many South Sudanese families here are female headed households – widows with children were often prioritised for refugee resettlement.

15:05

Women at forum

MOTHER (SUBTITLE): The kids’ father would have died or is left behind in Africa to work. Here there is no connection.

15:23

DR SANTINO DENG, Counsellor: Lacking a male role model in the family is a major contributing factor. Back home, for instance, even if you don't have a husband in the house, an uncle would be there, other family, other relatives.

15:31

Deng 100%

But in Australia, you get confined in your own house. You don't have much support around.

15:45

Men and women at forum

There is what we call role reversal within the family, where children start to speak very good language and they understand the system.

15:52

Deng 100%

They become more powerful because they understand the language and the culture. So, these changes can really impact on the parent. They feel like they don't have power. They don't have much control.

16:03

Man at forum

MAN (SUBTITLE): There is no respect. Some kids just say "fuck, come on man." What is this? That never happened in my generation.

16:15

Aerials. Fitzroy. Super: Fitzroy, Melbourne 6:30pm

Music

16:28

Adim and friends on basketball court

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: 19-year-old Adim came to Australia from South Sudan with his brother when he was just three – and has not seen his mum or dad since.

16:40

Adim interview in car

ADIM: I had to grow up myself and I had to figure out how to go and become a man myself. I could easily be doing other stuff, I could probably be locked up, or you know, I, or I could be like, "Yo, I don't have my mom, I don't have my parents here." You know, what's the point of doing what I do?

16:55

Photo of Adim's mum on his phone

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: He has a photo of his mum on his phone screensaver – and dreams of going to visit her in South Sudan.

17:10

Adim interview in car

ADIM: I wake up every day, and I see the photo, and I'd be like, whatever I do today, I'm doing it for her to make her happy.

17:22

Adim, Aro and friends

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Adim’s friend Aro has five brothers and sisters. He says his mum is worried for him.

ARO JACKSON, MANAGER 66 RECORDS:  My mom doesn't even know what to think any more.

17:34

Aro 100%. Super:
ARO JACKSON

Like, I can tell her all the things in the world, but she's a stay at home mom. All she does is believe what the news says.

17:48

Aro, Adim and friends.

She also looks at us like, "Whoa! These kids are out of control."

17:58

Aro 100%

She can't even trust me, because whatever I say, Channel 7 will say otherwise for three weeks straight. It’s like she doesn’t know what to say.

18:02

Recording gear

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Adim and Aro have started a music label called ‘66 records.’ Aro is one of the managers – and Adim an aspiring rapper.

18:17

ARO JACKSON, MANAGER 66 RECORDS: 66 records, we're the first well, we think, the first black owned label in Melbourne, in Australia.

18:28

Aro 100%

The things that brings us all together is we never really had shit. We never really had anything, you know? All we have is each other. And we're all on the same mission.

18:35

We just want to be the first ones to make it, you know?

18:45

I don't know anybody that owns a Ferrari here in Melbourne. I don't know anyone with a mansion, you know? Why can't that be me?

18:50

Pronto and friends at recording session

18:57

Pronto 100%. Super:
PRONTO

PRONTO: I'm black, I'm 6' 5" and I'm dark skin, really dark skin. You know what I mean? I'm really dark skin. So, to other people that are not like me, I'm a threat. So it's hard for me to walk these streets sometimes, because when I try to walk these streets sometimes I'm seen as a threat. You know what I mean?

19:16

I actually walk outside, go to a shop, try to buy something, and they look at me as a thief. Even though I have my money and my coins in my pocket, they still look at me as a black thief.

19:35

Aro 100%

ARO JACKSON, MANAGER 66 RECORDS: Since the whole Apex thing being on the news, I mean, I can't even get a job. I can have all the qualifications in the world, but if I pull up to the interview, and I'm Sudanese, it's like, "We should watch this guy, maybe we should be more cautious." And just, public transport, you know? People would rather stand from Flinders Street to Dandenong than sit next to me, you know? I get followed around in the grocery store with my mom, like I'm stealing groceries, you know?

19:48

[shot continuous]

In school, they tried to tell me I couldn't hang out with a group of more than four people, because we look like we're doing something. So, they're basically telling me, I can't live because I'm black. That's what they're telling me.

20:29

66 Records video

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: The members of 66 Records are acutely aware of how many see them and they play up to that image.

20:42

In this video, they mock the commercial media’s coverage of ‘African gangs’ – while they jump around with knives and rap about committing crime.

21:01

[rap music]

21:10

Hansen 100%. Super:
COMMANDER TIM HANSEN
Victoria Police

COMMANDER TIM HANSEN, VICTORIA POLICE: I'm advised they've put videos out that are certainly anti-establishment, anti-police and promote violence.

21:28

66 Records video

21:34

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Can you understand why the police would look at those lyrics, or look at that music, and be worried about it?

ARO JACKSON, MANAGER 66 RECORDS The reason we made the video was to profit off this fear, basically.

21:36

Aro 100%. Super:
ARO JACKSON
66 Records manager

We're just some young kids being creative, like, it's like a movie to us, you know? It's like we made our own movie, but we’re getting crucified for it basically, I don’t know.

21:50

I don't know what I can say, what I can do, to make the public believe me when I say, I'm not crazy. I'm not a criminal. What can I say to you, if that's already the perception you have, and you don't want to speak to me. What can I tell you?

22:04

Police officers in car

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: The police are on their way to investigate a car crash. 

22:24

Chugg and colleague in police car

POLICE RADIO (SUBTITLES): A carload of Africans have hit the front fence and are now hanging around in the front yard.

22:29

Apparently, there is a car full of people of African appearance...we have a couple of vans heading there…2-5-1 has just asked if there is a highway unit that can perhaps head there as well.

22:38

DET ACTING INSPECTOR HELEN CHUGG: Goodness me, they have really had a bad day out!

22:48

Car with L plate. Super:
St. Albans, Melbourne 6:40pm

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: It turns out there are no Africans involved. An L-plater has badly overshot a roundabout and a young South Asian man rushed to help.

22:53

Witness

WITNESS: All of a sudden it happened from that side it came around 50 to 60 kilometres per hour and it just hit this fence here.

23:05

Police officer with man and father at scene of crash

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: This man called the police for his elderly parents.

23:15

SON: They stressed out. They thought there might be a riot out the front. They ringing me up thinking someone did it deliberately...

DAD: My heart. Very bad.

SON: But they didn’t know it was an L plater.

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: And why did you think there was going to be a riot?

23:20

SON: They thought it was Africans out the front for some reason, I don’t know.

23:34

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Why are you feeling scared at the moment? What’s been on the news? What have you been hearing? 

SON: Just the crime in general, they always watch the news.

DET. ACTING INSPECTOR HELEN CHUGG: We have certainly seen it happening more in recent times where

23:38

Chugg interview. Super:
DET. ACTING INSPECTOR HELEN CHUGG:

people not actually clearly seeing whose involved, and because of all the media attention they have jumped to the conclusion that it’s African offenders.

23:53

Melbourne GVs

Music

24:17

NEWS : As a victim what happens to us? They get rehabilitated, they get sent back out into the community. I’m living with a life sentence every day.

24:27

Police/justice GVs

24:36

Peter Kidd enters Country Court

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: It’s rare for a judge to speak publicly – but County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd thinks the current atmosphere is dangerous.

CHIEF JUDGE PETER KIDD, COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA: This political question as to whether there's a crime wave or crime panic, I'll leave that to the politicians, and the journalists and the social commentators to debate. I'm concerned with,

24:42

Kidd 100%

as my judges are with practising the law. We're concerned with applying the rule of law. In this court,

25:05

Super:
CHIEF JUDGE PETER KIDD
County Court of Victoria

we're sentencing 1600 people a year and only a tiny proportion of those sentences receive any media coverage. They’re often the sensational, the salacious or the apparently lenient.

25:13

If you are an African offender, and certainly if you're an African youth of South Sudanese background from the western suburbs of Melbourne, rest assured your case will be reported upon. The media choose to report upon those cases. That creates an impression that we, that our work, a very significant proportion of our work is taken up with African youths from the western suburbs of Melbourne. That's a false impression.

25:24

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: There is a lot of anger in the community from people who think that the courts aren't being tough enough on youth offenders. What do say to those people, particularly victims of crime?

25:53

CHIEF JUDGE PETER KIDD, COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA: I think there's a misunderstanding out there in the public that we sentence for victims and victims alone. We don't. Yes, they are a very important consideration in the sentencing process, but the rule of law requires a judge to sentence in the public interest. The public interest requires a number of considerations. Some of those considerations might not sit comfortably with victims.

26:02

Kidd interview continues

We also know that with young people, that they're great vehicles for reform. An 18-year-old or a 19-year-old has the real capacity to turn his or her life around. So the law says we need to seize that opportunity.

26:31

We sentence people on an individualised basis. So we're not engaged in any kind of box ticking exercise. For example, if somebody comes to us and they're black African of South Sudanese background from the western suburbs of Melbourne, we don't just tick a box and say, "Well, therefore they're going to get a higher sentence" or a lower sentence as the case may be. Such an approach would be racist.

26:44

Nyadol 100%. Super:
NYADOL NYUON
Community leader and lawyer

NYADOL NYUON, COMMUNITY LEADER AND LAWYER: The public is being told that there is a crisis, that they live in a state that is becoming lawless.

27:10

The offending by African young people, despite it being 1%, has gained more attention than the overwhelming 71% of offending committed by Australian born people.

27:22

Hansen 100%

COMMANDER TIM HANSEN, VICTORIA POLICE: I think what we've seen has certainly elements of what I'd call moral panic.

27:38

Super:
COMMANDER TIM HANSEN
Victoria Police

We're seeing headlines and reporting that exacerbates a problem. And reporting on things that we're not necessarily seeing. So, that causes us some concern, and certainly when you read social media and other reporting platforms, it's driving community angst and people are seeing African crime everywhere, which is not necessarily the case.

27:41

Suburban GVs. Night

Music

28:05

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Throughout the year, tensions have been building. Police have been under increasing pressure to be seen to act.

28:10

File footage. Teenagers fight. Super:
8 August
5:30pm

In August, dozens of teenagers met at a park in Taylor’s Hill for a planned fight between two teenage girls.

28:20

Tell us, what do you know, about the truth

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Titan 100%. Super:
TITAN DEBIRIOUN

of what happened at Taylor’s Hill?

TITAN DEBIRIOUN: It was over a nude. Over a picture or a video or something that happened. It was teenagers being stupid, essentially, right?

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File footage. Teenagers fight.

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Titan 100%

TITAN DEBIRIOUN: It was everywhere on social media, so everyone that lived in that area went to see what happened.

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File footage. Channel 9 news report

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Driscoll 100%. Super:
DAVID DRISCOLL
Taylors Hill resident

DAVID DRISCOLL, TAYLOR’S HILL RESIDENT: Mainly when I first walked out it was the fear of what could happen with the kids, because there was that many of them.

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Suburb GVs. Night

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: David Driscoll lives around the corner from the park.

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DAVID DRISCOLL, TAYLOR’S HILL RESIDENT: They do all these criminal acts and then you see on the news and all that, that they get away with it. Why do they get away with it?

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Driscoll 100%

African gangs are here, the government and councils and the police say they are not here. They are here and people, residents are scared.

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File footage. Channel 7 news report. Riot squad

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: A police helicopter and the riot squad were called in. The kids then threw rocks at police and a patrol car had its back window smashed. No injuries were reported, and no arrests were made.

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NEWS: The group of around 100 youths, mostly of African appearance, had met up with plans to fight each other.

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SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Media reports said 100 African youths were there that night - police say the number was closer to 30.

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COMMANDER TIM HANSEN, VICTORIA POLICE: We had reports of damage at the Water Gardens Shopping Centre. Again, we've gone back to shopping management centre there. They're not reporting any crimes to us.

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Police walking around telling people to go inside and lock their doors because, you know, the dire consequences of what might occur. Again, that never occurred.

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SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Can you say then that the police overacted? I mean, was it the police presence

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that actually exacerbated the community's fears?

COMMANDER TIM HANSEN, VICTORIA POLICE: It certainly contributed to it. There were many residents who lived out in that area who were fearful for their safety that night. And that's the challenge for us. So, we've got large numbers of police in to execute our powers and our responsibilities. The balance for us is in you then exacerbate that feeling or that perception of fear.

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Police presence in suburb

Music

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SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: The next day, a special response unit patrolled the area to reassure residents.

COMMANDER TIM HANSEN, VICTORIA POLICE: We had intelligence that

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the circumstances that were at play on the night of Taylor's Hill were still very much alive and active the day after.

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Brimbank library exterior

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Sydenham Community Hub exterior

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: 17-year-old Martin and his friend Deng, who’d had nothing to do with the incident the night before and were studying at the local library.

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Martin in library

MARTIN: We see about like six officers walk in, and then two behind them come in. Then they came and told us our "time's up". So we asked them, "What do you mean, our time is up?

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Mobile phone footage, police office manhandles Martin

POLICE OFFICER (SUBTITLE): Come on, move on.

MARTIN (SUBTITLE): Yep, I will you don’t need to touch me.

MARTIN: Then they closed Deng's laptop and they throw it on the floor. They grabbed his bag,

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Martin in library

and then they started grabbing all of us, like forcibly.

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Legal centre team watch mobile phone video

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DENG: That was the guy just grabbed me. The guy just grabbed me for no reason. As it was going on, they don't want to tell us the reason, just "Get out from the library".

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Mobile phone footage

DENG ON VIDEO: Chill. Relax. Hey. Martin hold my phone, hold my phone. What kind of racism is this, bro?

POLICE OFFICER ON VIDEO: Let's go, okay?

DENG ON VIDEO: Martin hold my phone.

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Deng 100%

DENG: So we went downstairs. Wait at the bus stop. They're like, "just get inside the bus stop, or else we're going to give you a fine."

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Mobile phone footage

POLICE OFFICER ON VIDEO: Either you get on the bus and move or you’ll be issued with tickets.

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DENG  They just said, "You've been identified." I'm like,

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Deng and Martin with legal team

"Identified how?" They're just saying, "You've been identified, and you have to leave. If you come back, you will be arrested."

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SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Deng was fined AUD347 for not moving on fast enough after leaving the library.

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They are both working with lawyers from the Flemington Kensington legal centre to file an official complaint against police.

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Kelly at meeting

ANTHONY KELLY, LAWYER, Flemington Kensington legal centre: So Deng, why do you think the police forced you out of the library this time?

DENG: Because we're black, I reckon… yeah, that’s all I know.

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Hansen 100%. Super:
COMMANDER TIM HANSEN
Victoria Police

COMMANDER TIM HANSEN, VICTORIA POLICE: What we were doing is providing reassurance to the whole of the community out there.

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SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: How does it reassure the community to move along two young South Sudanese men studying in a library?

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COMMANDER TIM HANSEN, VICTORIA POLICE: Well, the bigger picture is that there was a whole lot of conversation coming out of Taylor's Hill that the police hadn't done enough.

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Collingwood. Night. GVs

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Launch party at Gasometer Hotel Super:
1 September
9:30pm

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SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: In September, 66 Records held their official launch party at the Gasometer Hotel in Collingwood.

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It was one of the biggest nights for young South Sudanese people all year, and in the current climate, both police and 66 Records were on high alert.

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ARO JACKSON, MANAGER 66 RECORDS: We had legal advisors at the show and outside the show,

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Aro 100%. Super:
ARO JACKSON
66 Records manager

also had warned the police about, obviously, the amount of people we expected to come. What else? John put out a statement, telling the crowd to not give the public and the police what they wanted, is Sudanese kids fighting.

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Gasometer Hotel/Launch party

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SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Police had met several times with 66 Records and the venue to discuss security - they had concerns about some of the people attending.

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COMMANDER TIM HANSEN, VICTORIA POLICE: They are people that we manage through Operation Wayward because

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Hansen 100%

of their criminal history and they are either on bail or there's some sort of, I guess, other intelligence at play, which informs us, or suggests to us, they're actively involved in criminal activity.

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Launch party

SOPHIE MCNEILL: Titan was there as a trained legal observer – to try and make sure there was no trouble.

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Titan 100%. Super:
TITAN DEBIRIOUN

TITAN DEBIRIOUN: I was upstairs watching the performance and stuff. I was like, yeah, this is amazing. Seeing people smile, people dance, I was proud.

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Aro 100%

ARO JACKSON, MANAGER 66 RECORDS: The police had come, walked in while we were performing. And it seemed like everything was secured.

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Launch party

SOPHIE MCNEILL: But at around 2.30am, once the main performance was over, a fight broke out.

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Titan 100%

TITAN DEBIRIOUN: Someone got punched inside, and their friends went to defend them. It's like, "I just got punched". "Why'd you punch my cousin?", and stuff like that, right? Then that just escalated.

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Launch party. Titan breaks up fight

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I went in there to try and break it up. We broke it up.

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Mobile phone footage. Launch party guests on street

NEWS: More than 200 people caused mayhem in Collingwood overnight after a violent brawl broke out fuelled by a group of youths.

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Aro 100%

ARO JACKSON, MANAGER 66 RECORDS:  So things were taken outside, and those guys were beginning to fight with the other group. But they were outnumbered, so one of their friends got into his car.

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9 News report. People running down street, get rammed by car

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TITAN DEBIRIOUN:  I'm screaming at people, "move. Get off the road", and stuff, right.

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Titan 100%

People start getting off to the left side. There's still a group of people there. I see this guy come, drive like into the group of people, right.

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Police and ambulance at scene after ramming

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: A car hit the crowd. A 19 year old South Sudanese man faces multiple charges. Aro’s eighteen-year-old cousin was badly injured– his leg was later amputated.

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ARO JACKSON, MANAGER 66 RECORDS: Well, he is, a real bright young kid, you know?

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Aro 100%

He's always had a real energy about him. He's the one that makes the whole family smile.

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Police and ambulance at scene after ramming

And he was a great basketball player.

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Aro 100%

He was about to go out and get a scholarship to play basketball.

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Ambulance at scene after ramming

It's kind of heartbreaking for us to put on a show like for this

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Aro 100%

for our community, they couldn't respect us enough to hold back from fighting just for one night.

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Exteriors. Gasometer Hotel

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Aftermath of ramming event

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Police were criticised for allowing the event to go ahead.

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COMMANDER TIM HANSEN, VICTORIA POLICE: Were we happy with the outcome of that event?

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Hansen 100%

Absolutely not. It was an horrendous outcome. So, I don't think anyone could stand back and say, well, that was a successful event and we should all be happy with what we did.

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Police press conference. Hill faces media

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: In the wake of the incident, the police and the media focused their attention on 66 Records.

REPORTER: We have been told that label 66 has the attention of police for the last 12 months or so, due to the hate rap that they produce. Can police confirm this?

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Super:
ACTING DEPUTY COMMISSIONER BOB HILL
Victoria Police

ACTING DEPUTY COMMISSIONER BOB HILL, VICTORIA POLICE: Certainly Record 66 is something of a concept of a group that we’ve been well and truly aware of and we have been monitoring.

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Hansen 100%

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: What about 66 Records themselves. Does that group stand accused of any links with criminal activity?

COMMANDER TIM HANSEN, VICTORIA POLICE:  Not that I'm aware of. No.

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Aro 100%. Super:
ARO JACKSON
66 Records manager

ARO JACKSON, MANAGER 66 RECORDS: It's easier for them to say that we're criminals than for them to say that these are some young black men successfully opening their own record label and selling out shows. It’s easier for them to say nah, they’re not really doing that.

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Trains

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SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: For many in the South Sudanese community, these days feel familiar.

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African woman on train

In 2007 there were similar headlines about ‘African gang’ crime in Melbourne.

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Memorial for Liep Gony

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That year 19-year-old Liep Gony was murdered. The community is holding the first public memorial to commemorate his death.

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MARTHA OJULO, MOTHER OF LIEP GONY (SUBTITLES): They killed Lied because he was black. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, he was the first black person they found.

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Martha addresses mourners

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: Martha Ojulo is Liep’s mother.

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MARTHA OJULO, MOTHER OF LIEP GONY (SUBTITLES): I don’t want another young child or teenager to be killed again.

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Martha 100%

MARTHA OJULO, MOTHER OF LIEP GONY (SUBTITLES): I arrived and saw him getting lifted into the back of the ambulance. And we all rushed to hold him. His brother tried to hold his legs and I’m trying to also hold him but the paramedics pushed us back.

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Ext. House. Night

SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: The media wrongly reported that Liep’s death was related to African gangs. But it was two white men who beat him to death with poles.

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Photo.  Liep's killers, Graffiti on wall

NYADOL NYUON, LIEP GONY’S FRIEND: At least one of his killers, before he had killed Liep, had sprayed, 

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Nyadol 100%. Super:
NYADOL NYUON
Liep Gony's friend

"fuck niggers" or something on the wall of their rental apartment, and had been heard shouting that

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Photo. 'Fuck Da niggas' Graffiti on wall on wall

he was going to take his anger out on some blacks, and that he wanted to kill blacks.

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Nyadol 100%

Then they went out that night and found Liep and beat him with metal poles and one of the guys said, "I think I just killed a nigger.”

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Liep memorial. Mourners and police

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When Liep died, there were conversations about police having lost control, you know? The idea of a lawless state. It's not just a debate.

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Nyadol 100%

For me, the consequences, at least from what I experienced through what happened to Liep, can be fatal.

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Community church

[singing]

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SOPHIE MCNEILL, REPORTER: This community came here in search of safety, but as fear and distrust build outside these walls, they wonder what the future will be, for them, and their children.

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ARO JACKSON, MANAGER 66 RECORDS: I really do not feel like I belong here at all. I feel like my parents made a mistake by trying to bring me here. And I feel as though

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Aro 100%

in the next ten years or so, there's not going to be anywhere for my siblings to go comfortably, because they're Sudanese. I feel as though my little brother's not going to be able to go get a job, or get the rent, because just of how they're portraying us right now, like we're demons.

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Nyadol addressing community members

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NYADOL NYUON, COMMUNITY LEADER AND LAWYER: I have, at my worst, thought whether I should move, you know. Whether I should leave this country. I normally describe it as feeling under siege. I feel, as a member of the African community, you're quite aware of it all the time.

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Nyadol 100%

And I can only describe it as, on an individual level, as almost like a stain you can't get rid of.

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END

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