Accused Cobblebank murderer motivated by revenge, court told

The 16-year-old boy accused of killing 15-year-old Dau Akueng on a Cobblebank street was motivated by revenge for a 2024 murder, prosecutors say.

The accused was refused bail in the Supreme Court on Wednesday over the group knife attack, which police say was in retaliation for the December 2024 killing of 18-year-old Kon Hsu Sein at Kurunjang.

Hsu Sein’s left hand was cut off, as was Dau’s, with prosecutors linking the crimes.

The victims of the Cobblebank attacks, Chol Achiek, 12, and his friend, Dau Akueng, 15, were not known to their eight attackers and had no known gang affiliations, the court heard, when they were set upon after getting off a bus just before 8pm on September 6. Chol and Dau had been walking with a third friend, who was 14, when a group of eight teenagers armed with machetes attacked them.

The 14-year-old fled to safety, but Chol and Dau were stabbed to death within 150 metres of each other.

Police at the time described the scene as one of the worst knife crimes they had seen, prompting the state to outlaw machetes.

On Wednesday, the teen applying for bail, who was 15 at the time of the Cobblebank murders, was accused of being armed with a machete with a group of others when he allegedly attacked Dau. He has not been charged with Chol’s murder.

In assessing the bail application, Supreme Court Justice James Elliott set out the police case, telling the court that on September 6, one of the eight co-accused had collected the seven others from locations including Caroline Springs, Sydenham and Thornhill Park in an allegedly stolen Nissan X-Trail.

When he was picked up, it’s alleged the now-16-year-old, who applied for bail, was armed with an object resembling a machete when he got into the boot.

Elliott said that at 7.28pm, the car had stopped alongside a teenage boy walking in the area and when demands had been made of him, he dropped his backpack and ran into a nearby home.

At 7.37pm, the car had then stopped outside a fast-food store in Melton South, Elliott said. There, six occupants got out and demanded to know if males inside the store were in a gang. Elliott said that when they said they were not, the group had left.

At 7.40pm, Chol, 12, Dau, 14, and a 14-year-old friend boarded a bus from Melton railway station, alighting at Bridge Road in Cobblebank at 7.51pm.

Elliott said the carload of armed teenagers had performed a U-turn and pulled up alongside the trio.

Five attackers began chasing Chol as the 14-year-old escaped. The judge said the five attackers had caught up with 12-year-old Chol and stabbed him to death.

At the same time, two others chased Dau on foot as the car followed closely behind. After killing Chol, the judge said those five attackers had joined in the armed attack on Dau.

The group had then fled in the car, the judge said.

The accused applying for bail then allegedly used his grandmother’s phone to order an Uber home.

A search of the accused’s house later uncovered a blood-spattered pair of grey tracksuit pants allegedly connecting him to the murder scene.

The court heard autopsies had found Dau had 72 injuries and Chol five injuries in the fatal attack. Dau’s hand was also cut off.

Police believe the killings were part of a retaliation attack for the December 2024 murder of Kon Hsu Sein, at Kurunjang. His left hand, the court heard, had also been cut off.

Detective Senior Constable Jarrod Brookman, from the homicide squad, said one of the other alleged Cobblebank killers had also been a “witness” in the Kurunjang homicide case.

Brookman said the motive for the Cobblebank attack was “youth gang culture”, specifically targeted at young Sudanese males in response to the December 2024 killing of Sein.

“Kon’s left hand was severed. Dau’s left hand was severed,” Brookman said.

In opposing bail, Crown prosecutor Kristie Churchill said the boy applying for bail had been keeping in company with other young people known to carry machetes, dating back to September 2024. A search of his phone, she said, had uncovered him posing for photos with machetes and using gang signs with others.

Churchill said the victims’ families lived in fear, with some seeking out home security and others making plans to leave the area.

“They are terrified,” Churchill said.

The prosecutor labelled the deaths as horrendous and violent, and said the victims were not known to their killers or affiliated with any gangs.

The knife that the accused boy was captured on CCTV carrying on the night had also not been found, she said.

“The motivation for this attack was retribution, revenge. There is no evidence or information that those tensions have abated or ceased,” she said.

“The risk is simply too great.”

Defence barrister Colin Mandy, SC, said rehabilitation must be front of mind when considering bail applications for children.

Mandy said his client had been threatened in custody, where men aged up to 23 were being held in youth detention, and that he was unable to look after himself physically.

This included, the court heard, being stood over for canteen money in youth detention.

Mandy said if bailed, his client had strong family support from his mother and grandmother in Victoria and father in Queensland, with his long-term rehabilitation a primary concern.

The grandmother, a security officer, had also offered a $100,000 surety, with a proposed bail address on the Gold Coast.

“The risk of any gang-related activity has to be reduced if he’s granted bail to live in Queensland,” Mandy said.

“He knows he would let everyone down if he were to behave badly.

“A conviction for murder is not inevitable.”

Justice James Elliott ultimately refused to bail the 16-year-old, telling the court the risk to the community was too high.

A 19-year-old Caroline Springs man, an 18-year-old Wollert man and a 16-year-old boy have been charged with Chol’s murder

A 19-year-old Thornhill man, two 16-year-old males, and this accused boy were charged with Dau’s murder.

The 16-year-old will return to the children’s court in February.

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