Melbourne machete victim Dau Akueng: Family remembers basketball-loving teen almost one year after his death

Dau Akueng should have been making headlines for his basketball achievements.

His family imagined the gifted 15-year-old growing taller, getting better, playing bigger games and perhaps one day achieving his dream of reaching the NBA.

Instead, almost a year after Dau was killed while walking home from basketball with his 12-year-old friend Chol Achiek, his cousin Bakhita Chol hopes people will remember him as the boy he was, rather than simply the horrific way he died.

“I wish more than anything that I was speaking to the media about Dau because he had achieved something incredible in basketball rather than because we lost him,” she told The Nightly.

“Unfortunately, I can’t change what happened, but I can help make sure something positive continues in his name.”

As the first anniversary of the boys’ deaths approaches, time has done little to ease Bakhita and her family’s grief for the future Dau should have had.

“Dau Elbino Akueng was my baby cousin, but honestly, he was more like a little brother to me,” she said.

“He was only 15 years old when we lost him, and his death changed our family forever.

“There is a space that Dau occupied in our family that nobody else will ever be able to fill.”

Dau and Chol were walking home with a 14-year-old friend in Cobblebank, in Melbourne’s west, on a Saturday evening in September last year when police allege they were ambushed by a group who pulled up in a vehicle.

Police said CCTV showed masked attackers carrying machetes and other long-edged weapons.

The boys ran.

Their friend escaped, but Dau and Chol were chased through suburban streets and fatally stabbed within about 150m of each other.

Police initially investigated mistaken identity as a possible motive, saying the killings had the hallmarks of youth gang violence.

A court has since heard the victims had no known gang affiliations and were “completely unknown” to the youth gangs allegedly involved.

Eight people — five teenagers aged 15 and 16 and three men — have since pleaded not guilty to murdering the boys and have been committed to stand trial in the Victorian Supreme Court.

“More than anything, I don’t want people to hear Dau’s name and only think about the way he died. I want people to know who he actually was before the tragedy,” Bakhita said.

“Dau was a kind, funny and loving kid.

“He was always laughing and joking around, and he had a smile that could brighten the darkest day.”

The 23-year-old said Dau adored his siblings, family and friends, but there was another great love in his life.

“One of the biggest parts of his life was basketball,” she said.

“Basketball was like a second home to him. He had so much love, passion and determination for the sport and, as his family, we genuinely believed he could go far with it.

“We imagined ourselves watching him grow up, continue playing basketball and achieve the things he dreamed about.”

Dau played, trained and refereed basketball and spent hours watching the sport.

He dreamed of one day playing professionally.

That’s one of the hardest things about losing someone so young. You’re not only grieving the person you’ve lost; you’re grieving the future they were supposed to have,

“We were supposed to have more birthdays with Dau, more basketball games, more family gatherings, more jokes and more memories.

“We weren’t supposed to be remembering him through photos and videos. We were supposed to be watching him grow up.”

After Dau’s death, his friends, teammates and Melbourne’s South Sudanese community rallied around his family.

“After we lost Dau, I saw how much love there was for him and how many people came together to support our family,” Bakhita said.

“We’ve continued to remember and honour him through gatherings, prayers and basketball because I never want his name to only be associated with tragedy.”

Chol’s family is also grieving another future that was cruelly snatched away.

He was just 12 and the seventh child in a large South Sudanese-Australian family.

He was remembered after his death as a funny, respectful boy who loved swimming and music. Like Dau, he was consumed by basketball and dreamed of playing professionally.

Almost a year later, new Victoria Police figures reveal the growing role children themselves are playing in the state’s knife crime.

The Nightly revealed this week that children under 18 are now responsible for almost a third of stabbings in Victoria, with incidents involving child offenders surging 30 per cent in the last year.

The rise has occurred despite Victoria becoming the first state in Australia to outlaw machetes last September.

“Something Dau’s death has made me realise even more strongly is that we need to listen to young people before tragedy happens,” Bakhita said.

“We need prevention. We need more safe spaces, mentoring, sport, mental-health support, positive role models and opportunities for young people to feel like they belong.”

Bakhita is also adamant that revenge is not the way to “honour someone you’ve lost”.

“More violence will never bring Dau back; it will only create another grieving family,” she said.

“We want justice through the proper process and we want peace.”

She also has advice for other young people caught in arguments, carrying weapons or watching their friends make dangerous choices.

“Walk away. Call someone. Speak to someone. Look after your friends,” she said.

“Sometimes being a real friend means stopping your friend from making a decision that could destroy their life or somebody else’s.

“Whatever is happening in that moment isn’t worth losing your life or taking another person’s life. You have a future, you have people who love you and we need you here.”

Above all, Bakhita does not want Dau’s life to be “defined only by the moment we lost him”.

“If there’s one thing I would really like people to take away from the article, it’s this: please remember the boy, not just the tragedy,” she said.

“Remember Dau as a 15-year-old kid who loved basketball. Remember his smile, his jokes, how much he loved his family and friends, and remember that he had dreams and an entire future ahead of him.

“He was deeply loved, his life mattered, and he will never be forgotten.”