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Photo: Laa Chol died at the EQ Tower apartment complex in Melbourne’s CBD. (Instagram)A senior member of Victoria Police has dismissed suggestions the killing of a 19-year-old university student was related to “warring factions” within Melbourne’s African-Australian community.
Laa Chol died in the early hours of Saturday during an altercation between two groups in a short-stay apartment on A’Beckett Street, in Melbourne’s CBD.
Police said a group of young people had rented the apartment where the dispute broke out.
Emergency services were called to EQ Tower after reports of a woman suffering serious injuries, but Ms Chol, from Pakenham in Melbourne’s outer south-east, died at the scene.
Police are still searching for those involved.
On Saturday investigators said they believed everyone at the apartment was of African heritage, reigniting debate around the issue of violence and crime.
Last week, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said there was “real concern about Sudanese gangs” in Victoria, while earlier this year Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton suggested Melburnians were afraid to go out to dinner at night because of gang violence.
Photo: Police said a group of young people had rented an apartment on the 56th floor. (Supplied: Booking.com)Mr Dutton weighed into the issue again on Sunday, suggesting that Ms Chol’s death was related to “Sudanese gangs”.
“There is a major law and order problem in Victoria,” Mr Dutton said in a statement on the weekend.
“We don’t have these problems with Sudanese gangs in NSW or Queensland.”
But a member of Victoria Police’s African-Australian community taskforce, which was set up in response to a series of high-profile crimes, denied it was related to feuding gangs.
“This is not to do with warring factions,” Commander Stuart Bateson told 3AW.
“It’s not related to ethnicity. We’ve seen murders occur in similar circumstances ever since I’ve been in the police force.
“A suggestion that Laa Chol, the victim, was a member of a gang is just not true.”
Premier Daniel Andrews accused both Mr Turnbull and Mr Dutton of engaging in “cheap” politics”.
“What we have here yet again another woman whose life has been cut short,” Mr Andrews told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“We don’t know the exact circumstances and it reminds us that we have a long way when it comes to attitudes towards women and violence against women.
“That’s what I take out of this, not cheap commentary from politicians from the other side of the country.”
Topics: crime, community-and-society, race-relations, states-and-territories, state-parliament, parliament, melbourne-3000, vic
