Hundreds of people gathered in Cobblebank for a candlelight vigil on Tuesday, September 9 as a heartbroken community mourned the loss of two young boys.
Dau Akueng, 15, and Chol Achiek, 12, were walking home in Cobblebank late on Saturday, September 6 when police say they were ambushed by up to eight masked males and fatally stabbed.
On Tuesday night, family, friends, and the wider community made their way to an open space off Bridge Road at 6.30pm, carrying flowers, photographs, and candles in a show of group solidarity.
As the sun set and the temperature dropped, the crowd huddled together.
Chuti Ngong, the father of the younger victim, stepped forward to address an emotional crowd.
“Life is the most important thing that we can not recover,” Mr Ngong said.
“We [are] capable of preventing [this] – we don’t want to [lose] our children, our children are our root.
“We need to pray and we need to talk to our leaders to do more protection for everybody.
“How can someone just kill him like you are going up and killing [an] animal? … [Let’s] take care of one another. [Let’s] be [a] witness of anything. Whenever you see anything, say anything.”
Mr Ngong said that seeing others show “the love of God” and of human beings at the vigil brought him strength.
Akol Magok, who is a minister at Hope for All Nations Church in Werribee and involved in South Sudanese basketball programs, expressed the pain and fear his community were feeling.
“Australia’s supposed to be a home of peace, home of unity, a home of love, where our kids can just come to park and play, do sports, and come back – and we parents, we don’t have to worry,” Mr Magok said.
“But now, it’s all different – our life can never be the same again, our families will never be the same again.
“All the young people out here, we just wanted to say: Stay safe, man.”
He urged young people to stay vigilant and protect themselves.
“Don’t get involved in anything suspicious, listen to your parents, be at school, do the right thing, because now we lost those two young people, we will never get them back again,” he said.
“We don’t want to lose more kids, we don’t want to lose nobody.
“God gave us life so that we can lead a very long life to the [fullest]. Not for somebody to come and cut it short like what we saw.”
Mr Magok said the community wanted justice, not revenge.
“The message tonight is that we want answers and we want justice, that’s our message,” he said.
“We don’t want revenge, we don’t do revenge – we’re not going to go out and kill people.
“We just want justice. Those boys, they need to be locked up so that Melbourne can be safe again for everybody.”
Deacon George Piech Meat travelled from Dandenong to address attendees at the vigil, echoing Mr Magok’s words.
“There’s no revenge, it’s not part of our identity. Nothing at all. Even Dau and Chol will not be happy if we do any revenge,” Mr Meat said.
“Let justice take its place – Jesus said pray for your enemies, so we pray for those who have committed this, that they can come forward.”
At nearby Strathtulloh Primary School, a private vigil was held for Dau and Chol in the gymnasium.
Mourners were later invited to join in and walked across in unison as the two ceremonies merged.
Two fundraisers have been launched to support both families with funeral expenses: https://www.gofundme.com/f/dau-akueng and https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-funeral-funds-for-chol-ayen-achiek
