Murder in Melbourne’s west: The brutal killing of a peacemaker

Abuk Akol’s son is dead and her sleep is forever haunted by nightmares. In the month since he was left for dead in an empty park in Melbourne’s west, it is his final moments that fill her mind at night.

That he was cold, that it was dark, that he might have been alone. If only she could have touched her first-born child, she thinks, it would have made a difference.

“If I held him, if he could feel me with him, I know Kioyom never would have left me,” Akol says.

The talented basketball player, adored son and brother, and the breadwinner for his family, was fatally stabbed at a park just a few hundred metres from his home in the early hours of the morning.

“They stabbed him. They left him to die alone in the cold, dark place. He is bleeding, he is suffering, and he is scared,” Akol says.

“No one can help him. Why did nobody come to my house to tell me, so I can be with my son?”

Mother Abuk Akol, father Athum Mayen Athum and sister Rebekah Athum are pleading for anyone with information to come forward.Credit: Chris Hopkins

Kioyom’s sudden, violent death has devastated his parents and six young siblings, and stirred up grief and sorrow in the close-knit South Sudanese community.

Police were called to Balmoral Park in Derrimut, about 22 kilometres west of Melbourne’s CBD, at 4.20am on August 23, where they found Kioyom unconscious and bleeding.

Four of his friends were attempting CPR. Paramedics tried to save him but Kioyom died at the scene.

Knives were found scattered in the park and blood-soaked clothes in a nearby parked car. Neighbours told police they heard shouting, before seeing a group fleeing from the park.

Kioyom’s family have been told the 28-year-old, who has no links to any gangs or any history of crime, stepped in to defuse a fight.

His father, Athum Mayen Athum Kioyom, had saved up money to take Kioyom and his younger brother on their first trip back to their family’s village in South Sudan this month.

He wanted his sons to learn more about their culture and roots. Instead, the grief-stricken father is mourning the loss of his eldest son.

“Kioyom was always taking care of everyone and as his father I wanted to do something for him,” he says.

“He was everything to our family and loved in our community. He was our peacemaker. I know Kioyom and he would never fight. He has never been violent in his life. I need to know who killed my son and why this has happened.”

His parents are speaking out in the hope somebody who saw what happened will come forward with information that could lead to an arrest over their son’s brutal death.

They fear their race could play a role in the pace of the investigation, and are concerned Kioyom’s murder might go unsolved.

“If I heard some people get arrested, then my heart would release a little because justice would take place,” Akol said.

Kioyom Athum with his mother on his birthday in 2008.

Police say the case remains a top priority and a significant investigation has been undertaken in the last month, including detectives speaking to large numbers of people who saw what unfolded in the park, and combing through hours of CCTV footage.

“We know that incidents such as this cause immense amounts of concern in the local community and how incredibly difficult it is for grieving families to not have answers,” Victoria Police said in a statement.

“We want to reassure the community that it remains a priority for Victoria Police, and we are doing everything, we can to locate those responsible and hold them to account.”

Police said by every account, Kioyom was a loved young man, heavily involved in his community, who worked hard to support those around him.

Despite there being many witnesses at the park on the night Kioyom was fatally stabbed, investigators and his heartbroken family have struggled to get anyone to speak about what they saw.

“It’s now up to those who knew him to speak up on his behalf,” police said.

Kioyom’s family fear race could play a role in the pace of the investigation, and are concerned Kioyom’s murder might go unsolved.Credit: Chris Hopkins

“Police need those people to come forward and speak to us. Their information will be crucial to solving this case.

“We can’t imagine how difficult it must be for his family knowing there are people out there who could help solve this and hold Kioyom’s killer to account, and yet they are choosing not to.”

It is believed Kioyom was at a nearby business with friends earlier in the evening when they were involved in an altercation with another group.

The following day he and his younger sister Rebecca had planned a surprise for his parents and siblings and were going to take them into the city for lunch and karaoke.

Rebecca was one of the last people to see her brother alive. She was on her way to a friend’s house about 9pm when she saw her brother in a car with three friends. He jokingly teased her for wearing one of his jumpers and told her not to stay out too late.

He called her again a few hours later, to check she was safely home, and said he was heading home too. “Remember we have things to do tomorrow,” he said.

Kioyom Athum was a talented sportsman and represented Victoria in basketball tournaments.

Hours later, Rebecca would hear her mother’s cries of raw grief in the hallway outside her bedroom: “Your brother has been killed, my son, my son.”

She remembers rushing to the park and seeing an orange emergency services tent in the middle of the sports oval, covering her brother’s body.

“I was begging to see him one last time. It just broke my heart,” she says. “He’s still lying there alone, all these hours later.”

Rebecca says Kioyom was her protector, her best friend and the kindest person she knew and spent his life taking care of his siblings and parents. He was the family prankster, who was always smiling and dancing. His great passions in life were basketball, education and his family.

She says her five young siblings are struggling to grasp the enormity of their loss, waking in tears in the middle of the night.

Kioyom Athum as a little boy.

“Everything he did was for his family,” she says.

After his death, Rebecca found a scrawled note stuck to the whiteboard in the bedroom. It read: “Everything that must be done is ahead. For your six siblings. That’s all that matters. Keep pushing.”

Kioyom was a talented athlete and played college basketball in the United States and represented Victoria in state teams over many years.

He was also a mentor for young people working alongside the African Youth Initiative in Melbourne’s outer west.

In the months before his death, Kioyom was helping a local library to collate stories of South Sudanese history and assisting with an art exhibition, which showcases African fashion, food and music.

Kioyom Athum was a star athelete.

Rebecca says Kioyom’s dream was to take his family on their first holiday together and to one day run a program helping young African people secure employment.

He encouraged them to allow his five sisters to have the same education, sporting opportunities and freedoms as him and his brother.

“He helped them see we’re not just Sudanese, we’re Australian too,” she says.

“To let us excel, seize every opportunity and never think this culture is going to change us and make us forget our roots and where we come from.”

Hundreds of people attended a vigil after Kioyom’s death where his name and basketball number 11 were illuminated in the night by glowing lights.

More than 500 people travelled from all over Australia for his funeral, busloads of them driven in from Melbourne Airport.

An image from Kioyom’s vigil.

The spring rain has washed away the blood from where Kioyom died, but Akol says she can still see a dark patch in the patch of grass, where her son lay.

“I cannot rest until I know what happened,” Akol says.

“I want my son’s story to be told. I want people to know about him. I want people to come forward and tell police what happened. He’s a good person. He did not deserve to die like this.”

If people do not wish to speak directly with police information can be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or via www.crimestoppers.com.au

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