The stabbing death of a young man in Adelaide’s CBD earlier this year sparked headlines about ongoing violence between Sudanese gangs in Adelaide, but those making positive changes in the community say that doesn’t reveal the full picture.
In the early hours of Anzac Day, 25-year-old Ngor Bol took his final breaths.
Police allege he was stabbed and stomped to death after fleeing a knife fight between two rival Sudanese gangs in the city.
Ngor Bol’s cousin Anei* received a frantic phone call from his sister, who was worried he was there.
But her relief soon turned to dread when they both realised the man who had been killed was a member of their family.
“I did not even believe it, I was just like – I was just with him a few days ago – this can’t be,” Anei says.
But Anei understands how young men can get caught up in antisocial behaviour.
He was seven-years-old when his family arrived in Adelaide.
His family, like many others from South Sudan, fled civil war to Kenya, before resettling in Australia.
“I came here with my mum … and my older brother, my dad passed away during the war,” he says.
Like his cousin Ngor (pictured below), Anei spent his adolescence growing up in a country that was not always accepting of new arrivals.
