Family of young basketballer stabbed to death break their silence with heartbreaking statement as thugs face court over brutal attack
- The family of a deceased basketball player has shared their grief
- Alier Riak was stabbed to death in Melbourne in March 2022
- His attackers have pleaded guilty to murder
The South Sudanese community lost a “beacon of hope” when a promising young basketball player was stabbed to death in an unprovoked street attack, his family said.
Alier Riak celebrated his 23rd birthday on March 13, 2022 when brothers Teamrat Kassa and Aron Gebregiorgis and four other men attacked him and his friends.
They first targeted Mr Riak’s brother, Kuol, beating and stabbing the 25-year-old man on Bourke Street in Melbourne’s city centre.
Mr Riak tried to defend his brother when the attackers turned on him and chased him to a nearby park.
Kassa and Gebregiorgis stabbed Mr Riak repeatedly in the chest and leg before he staggered back to his friends and then collapsed in the street.
CCTV footage shows Gebregiorgis calmly walking away from the scene and taking off his bloody jumper, while Kassa and the rest of his group stay with Mr Riak as the police and then the ambulance arrive.
Mr Riak died en route to hospital, while his brother Kuol was taken to The Alfred with four stab wounds to his back and arms.
Gebregiorgis and Kassa were arrested on March 18 and charged for the violent attack.
The family of a young basketball player has shared their grief after his death
Alier Riak was stabbed to death by thugs in Melbourne’s CBD in March 2022
Both pleaded guilty to murder in the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday, with Kassa also admitting recklessly causing injury to Kuol Riak.
Fourteen victim impact statements from Alier Riak’s family and South Sudanese community leaders were read to the court.
They described Mr Riak as a promising young basketball player who would sign a new professional contract in Darwin shortly after his death.
He was also a mentor to the South Sudanese community in Western Australia, where he had lived since immigrating to South Sudan with his family as a young child.
“Alier was a role model and a beacon of hope to his community,” his mother Elizabeth Malek said in her statement.
“Our family was once happy, but this loss has major consequences.”
Kassa’s only explanation for the killing was that “he had heard something he didn’t like about something that had happened to a colleague,” his lawyer Ashley Halphen told the court.
The 21-year-old had been released from prison on community service a week before the attack, he said.
Aron Gebregiorgis (pictured) and Teamrat Kassa have pleaded guilty to murder
He said the murder was not premeditated and that Kassa was a young man who acted impulsively under the influence of Xanax and alcohol.
His brother Gebregiorgis also abused prescription drugs and cannabis before the murder, according to attorney Sam Norton.
He said there was no explanation for his client’s behaviour, but that he had pleaded guilty and shown remorse.
Gebregiorgis turned himself in to police before he was charged and then wrote a letter apologizing to the court, Norton said.
Kassa also filed a letter of apology, but prosecutor Neill Hutton noted that both statements had only recently been written.
“It’s a kind of lazy remorse, those letters weren’t sent 12 or 18 months ago,” he told the court.
According to Mr Hutton, the killing was a completely unprovoked attack on a group that was unarmed and trying to retreat.
Judge John Champion noted that the seriousness of the offence was increased because Kassa and Gebregiorgis stalked their victims.
“A minute or so ruins anyone’s life forever,” the judge said.
He will later sentence the pair.
Outside court, Mr Riak’s father James said the family was hoping for the best outcome from the judge.
“We are really, really upset,” he told reporters. “(Alier) was the icon of our family.”