There has been no obvious rise in tensions among the Sudanese community in Adelaide after a 14-year-old boy was charged with murder over the fatal stabbing of schoolboy Daniel Awak, police say.

The incident occurred during a brawl involving about 12 Sudanese Australian youths, all from the same tribal group, fighting with knives in central Adelaide’s Grenfell Street on Wednesday.

Police said they had not yet identified a clear motive for the deadly attack, in which a second Sudanese Australian boy had also been stabbed.

The injured boy remained in a critical condition.

A boy charged with Daniel’s murder will appear in the Adelaide Youth Court on Monday, police said.

Police would not confirm whether the accused was also allegedly involved in the stabbing of the second Sudanese Australian boy.

As a precaution against retaliation to the incident, senior police met yesterday with leaders of Adelaide’s 1500-strong Sudanese community.

Today a police spokesman told AAP there had been no reports of further incidents among the community and no further trouble was anticipated.

“[There’s been] nothing that we’re aware of,” the spokesman said.

“I think a lot of it was media speculation.”
South Australian Police Commissioner Mal Hyde said yesterday that relations between police and Adelaide’s Sudanese community were good, but officers were concerned about the possibility of retaliation in the community.

As a safety measure, police would undertake extra patrols in key areas of the city where Sudanese youths were known to gather or frequent, he said.

With knife attacks on the rise, the commissioner also said he wanted to see metal detectors more widely used to help police crack down on knife carriers.

“We need to make sure that a culture doesn’t grow where the carrying of knives, particularly among some groups, becomes the norm,” he said.

The family of Daniel, a 14-year-old schoolboy, held a news conference yesterday and said they did not harbour hard feelings over his death.

“He died probably because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Daniel’s uncle, Bol Machar, told ABC Radio.

“Thongjang [Daniel] was a bright boy, caring, loving, and mingled with other people very well.

“We love him so dearly, we are proud of him and we miss him a lot,” he said.