Deng Atem Machok pleads guilty to lesser charge over Operation Meld stabbing in Adelaide CBD

An alleged gang member who was due to stand trial for attempted murder over a violent stabbing in Adelaide’s CBD has made a shock admission in court.

Operation Meld stabbing murder, BDK gang flown in to help 051,

A man charged over a stabbing near Adelaide’s nightclub strip – in which he was recorded twice “thrusting” a knife toward the victim’s heart - has pleaded guilty to the crime just as he was due to stand trial.

Deng Atem Machok had been charged with attempted murder over the January 2022 incident, but pleaded guilty from the Supreme Court dock to the lesser charge of aggravated recklessly causing serious harm on Wednesday.

He had been scheduled to stand trial, but prosecutors accepted the plea in satisfaction of the allegations and the trial was abandoned.

Operation Meld stabbing murder, BDK gang flown in to help 051,

During earlier hearings, the court was told Deng, 21, of Kilburn was among a group of men – which prosecutors had alleged were members of the Killa Block Squad gang – who targeted another unarmed man whose brother was alleged to be a member of rival gang, 051.

The two groups of men clashed on Clubhouse Lane, just off Hindley St, about 12.50am on January 30, 2022. The victim, from Lightsview, was found on nearby Blyth St suffering life threatening injuries and taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

The court had heard the incident was captured on CCTV which depicted Machok twice thrusted the knife into the shirtless victim’s chest before “dashing back”, in an attack which “grazed” the right ventricle of the victim’s heart.

In another hearing, earlier this year, prosecutor Georgina Venn had told the court Machok as he “sneaks” up behind the victim with his hand in his pocket.

“He walks up to the complainant and while front on to him stabs in him twice in the chest with the first stab unfortunately hitting the right ventricle,” she said.

She said the victim had been “fortunate” to survive open heart surgery.

The court had also heard Machok had been stabbed himself by a member of the 051 gang three weeks earlier, which Ms Venn said had given rise to the inference the CBD incident was “some kind of retaliation”.

Police had revealed Machok’s arrest was part of Operation Meld, a special task force created to combat a spate of stabbings allegedly involving feuding youth gangs which police had quietly launched six months before the stabbing.

Patrick Dawes, for Mr Machok, had told the court at the earlier hearing that there was “no evidence” his client, or the victim’s brother were members of any gangs and that it was “speculative to suggest there is some motive at play between gang membership and what’s occurred”.

On Wednesday Mr Dawes said he required time to organize a psychological report before the matter proceeds to sentence. Machok returns to court in February.