Eshay opens up about his darkest secrets – including a sickening crime that will shock Aussies
A self-styled Australian eshay has spoken out about his life of crime – and the sad reasons he got involved with the subculture.
During an interview with video maker Jamie Zhu, Hobart man Broderick Evans said he had ‘always been an eshay’ as he described his life in Tasmania.
The eshay movement has gained popularity across the country, with the subculture identified by its members’ matching designer sportswear, Nike TN sneakers and generally menacing attitude.
Hardcore eshays engage in assaults, robberies and threatening behavior against other young people, but many appear to wander aimlessly through the streets and hang out at train stations.
When Mr Zhu asked about Eshays’ daily activities, Evans replied: “They walk around, run amok, do drugs,” and his hobbies included rapping and graffiti.
In the video, Evans accompanies the host to a Hobart shopping centre, where he unashamedly shouts comments at passing customers. Without hesitation, he makes derogatory comments like, “What are you looking at, grunk?” to an unsuspecting man in a suit.
The pair then go to a pizza restaurant for lunch, with Evans taunting the man behind the counter, calling him a “gronk” several times.
Instead of paying for his own meal, Evans brazenly takes a pizza from another customer.
Laughing, Evans revealed that he once “stabbed someone in the neck with a pair of scissors” while “getting rid of his head with acid tablets.”
Mr. Zhu asks Evans about his life and what had attracted him to the eshay lifestyle.
Broderick Evans (left) has given insight into a typical day in the life of an Australian Eshay
Evans said he was taken from his mother when he was 18 months old.
“By the time I was 12, I was hanging around, doing house burglaries and stuff like that,” he said.
Evans explained that he spent nine years in prison and lived on the streets after being evicted.
He said he did not have a “normal upbringing” and that he did not think he would have become an eshay if he had not had such a difficult start in life.
“I hate my dad, he told me I was a mistake when I was a teenager,” he said.
Evans said if he had the chance to live his life differently, he would stay out of trouble.
Evans (left) said he spent years in and out of prison after a difficult childhood
“I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to be an eshay and not get in trouble.”
Evans was asked what he would like to tell other Australians about eshays.
“Like half of us are good,” he said.
“We might get into trouble, but at least we’ll be there for you and help you with whatever you need.”
“I have crazy loyalty for my friends, I will do anything for them.”
He said his advice to young people would be to ‘stay out of trouble’.