A pair of alleged phone thieves have been caught on video wielding what appeared to be machetes in a Melbourne suburb as they were confronted by a group who accused them of stealing a phone.
Footage released by Outlaw Media on Monday showed two young men, dressed in black with their faces covered, holding what appears to be machetes in the middle of a street in Sunshine, 12km from the city’s CBD.
During the video, the pair could be seen waving the long knives in the air, with one of the young men making a chopping motion.
‘Give that s*** back,’ a man in the group told the pair, referencing an allegedly stolen phone.
‘Put it back. You don’t want trouble,’ another voice said.
One of the young men carrying a knife replied: ‘Get out of my face. I don’t want trouble.’
But the first man from the group said: ‘Do you think I’m scared of a knife?’
The person believed to be the victim of the alleged theft then pointed to one of the young men and asked why he was walking away.
‘He has my phone. This guy has it. He took my phone,’ the speaker said to the group.
One of the group could then be heard telling the two knife-wielding men to ‘put that s*** away’.
When asked about the video, Victoria Police said it could not locate anything with the information provided.
The footage comes just two days after a separate knife-related incident in which two young boys were fatally stabbed in Melbourne’s northwest.
Dau Akueng, 15, and Chol Achiek, 12, were walking home in Cobblebank on Saturday night when police said they were ambushed by eight masked males.
They died at the scene, less than 200m away from each other.
While investigations are ongoing, police said the attack may have been a case of mistaken identity – with the incident having the ‘hallmarks of a youth gang crime’.
Detective Inspector Graham Banks said the suspected gang attack was the latest in a ‘substantial and growing list’ of such crimes across the state.
Offences statewide committed by youths between 10 and 17 years old jumped 17.9 per cent in the year to March – the highest level since records began in 1993, according to the latest crime statistics.
In an attempt to crackdown on violent crime in Victoria, the state government introduced machete and long-bladed knife amnesty boxes at 45 police stations across the state last week.
A ban on machetes also came into effect on September 1, with the change making it illegal to own, use, carry, transport or sell knives without an exemption or valid approval.
Convictions could result in penalties of up to two years in jail or a fine of more than $47,000.
Police Minister Anthony Carbines has urged people to hand in machetes as part of a three-month amnesty running until November 30.
The state government has also legislated to strengthen bail laws and bolster stop and search powers for police.
But Senior Victoria police officer Graham Banks on Sunday broke with the government, demanding tougher penalties following the deaths of Dau Akueng and Chol Achiek.
‘As I stand here before you, I think the penalties aren’t in balance with what community expectations are or mine,’ the senior cop said.
The state opposition has backed his call, saying Victorians no longer feel safe in their homes.
‘The Allan Labor government need to come out with solutions, not media releases,’ Liberal leader Brad Battin told reporters on Monday.