The family of an African-Australian woman killed in a Melbourne CBD apartment say she was not connected to criminal gangs, as Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton labelled her death indicative of a "major law and order problem" in Victoria.
Laa Chol, 19, was found dead at a short-term rental apartment on the 56th floor of the EQ Tower early Saturday morning. She was reportedly stabbed.
In a statement on Sunday, Mr Dutton said the teen's death was "a tragic and needless loss of a young life".
But he added that "there is a major law and order problem in Victoria and more people are going to be hurt until the rule of law is enforced by the Victorian government".
"We don't have these problems with Sudanese gangs in NSW or Queensland," he said.
SBS News contacted the office of Mr Dutton for comment but did not receive a reply.
Laa Chol died in 2018. Source: Instagram
Investigations are continuing as police are still searching for those involved in her death.
But Ms Chol's family say she had no connection to "so-called gangs".
“[She was] not a party goer, she just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Ms Chol’s parents, who are South Sudanese, hailing from the Chollo and Anyauk tribes, told The Age.
Ms Chol's mother Ojwanga Abolo said her daughter had no links to gangs. Source: Facebook
Her cousin, Nyawie Dau, said: "We need justice for Laa. They need to find whoever did this".
Tributes flow
Tributes have flowed for the Pakenham teen, with shocked friends saying she had never caused trouble.
Messages on Facebook described Ms Chol as "positive and bright" and someone who "always showed love" to those around her.
Laa Chol was killed after a clash between two groups of people at a short-stay CBD apartment. Source: Facebook
Skye United FC paid tribute to their former player in a touching post on Facebook.
“It’s with great sadness that we are to announce that Laa Chol from our senior women’s team was killed in the early hours of Saturday morning,” the club said.
“Laa was an integral part of our women’s team since joining in March this year. All our love, thoughts & prayers go out to Laa’s family, friends & teammates”
'A great tragedy'
On Sunday, Premier Daniels Andrews said it was "a great tragedy and obviously our thoughts and prayers and best wishes are with everybody affected" but reiterated the government's efforts on tackling youth crime.
"If we want to have a proper discussion about youth crime or crime in any sense you can't ignore there is a need to invest in TAFE and the education system," he told reporters.
Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton said the death was indicative of a "major law and order problem". Source: AAP
"There's enormous efforts that have been put in place in terms of engaging not only with individual young people [but] their families, community leaders, getting them back to school, in to training, in to jobs, making sure they make much better decisions for themselves and the rest of the Victorian community.”
Police on Saturday said Ms Chol had died at the scene shortly after 5am following a dispute between a group which had hired the apartment and another arriving later.
Commander Tim Hansen said about 12 people had been interviewed over Ms Chol's death but they were not believed to be responsible for her death.
It's unclear what brought the second group to the apartment but Commissioner Hansen said there was no sign of forced entry.
Support was being offered to the African-Australian community, of which the victim and partygoers were members, Commander Hansen added.
A Melbourne Federal MP said his community had seen a rise in violence.
"The only way we can practically identify and address a problem is to name it, to deal with it honestly and then to work with the communities to tackle a fundamental problem that's occurring," federal Liberal MP for Goldstein Tim Wilson told Sky News.
The Sudanese community is responsible for one per cent of crimes in Victoria, which he admitted was not a big number but Mr Wilson believes it's to blame for a growth in certain types of violent crimes.
