Abdirahman Basa, 20, sentenced for role in Werribee armed robberies

A youth gangster behind bars bragged to his sister about how he and his mates robbed a supermarket, while the group’s ringleader faced the music for his role in the terrifying armed robberies.

A youth gangster who fractured his spine in a bungled machete crime spree bragged to his sister that “we robbed the f—k out of some supermarket” in prison calls tracked by police.

The boy, 16, was among three Brotherhood street gang members caught on horror CCTV holding up two supermarkets for just $800 and a few bottles of booze, for which ringleader Abdirahman Basa, 20, copped four years jail on Tuesday.

Abdirahman Basa, 20, clutching a machete at NQR supermarket Picture: Supplied.

The youth gang trio used a machete to hold up an NQR and Foodworks in Werribee — gaining just $300 then $500.

“It’s OK,” Basa was heard saying to a terrified woman at the till who “screamed in fear” as he held a machete, on March 28. 2023.

The group led a high-speed police car chase, throwing a stolen bottle of Smirnoff vodka at the cop car, before it came to an abrupt end with Learner-drive Basa smashing into another car, then a power pole, trapping the trio inside.

The County Court heard one of Basa’s coaccused, a boy, 16, who cannot be named for legal reasons, called his sister from jail after he was released from hospital with a broken rib and suspected fractured vertebrae.

“We robbed the f—k out of some supermarket,” he told the girl in calls that police got a warrant to track.

The boy explained how he was driving on the highway fleeing from police before swapping seats with Basa and getting in the back of the car, stolen days earlier in the dead of night from a young woman home with her six-month-old baby.

“We were going like 160(km/h) bro (then) boom, out of nowhere, I blacked out.”

The teen’s calls were later used by police in proving their charges against the trio, as was a video the group took inside the stolen car.

Basa was on Tuesday sentenced to a maximum four years and five months jail, with a non parole period of two years and 10 months after he pleaded guilty to a series of armed robbery and driving offences.

Police had their guns drawn after Abdirahman Basa crashed the stolen car into a power pole following a wild pursuit across Melbourne's west. Picture: Supplied.

His coaccused have already been dealt with, the 16-year-old getting six months youth detention and an 18-year-old getting a nine-month Community Corrections Order.

Judge Angela Ellis said “it may have seemed like a bit of a lark to you and your co offenders, maybe a way to make some money quickly”.

“Hopefully you are now realising it’s simply not worth it.”

Judge Ellis found Basa’s crimes were too serious to allow him to serve out his sentence in youth detention.

The young man, who can’t remember his crime spree because he was high on Xanax and booze, has been in isolation at the maximum security Port Phillip Prison.

Her Honour noted Basa’s troubled background, having been born in Ethiopia and spending his young years in a refugee camp where he was exposed to wartime horrors, even observing the decapitation and amputation of others.

But Judge Ellis said his background needed to be balanced against the dangers of his actions, with young offenders fleeing police in stolen cars and causing carnage becoming “all too prevalent”.

“The community is thoroughly sick of it,” Her Honour said.

Basa will be eligible for parole in January 2026.