By Erin Pearson
After plunging his knife into 18-year-old Hashim Mohamed on St Kilda Beach, a teenager took out his phone, opened the notes app, and wrote a set of violent rap lyrics glorifying the deadly stabbing.
In the lyrics, the 15-year-old killer, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Supreme Court, describes the life that he lives, “all blacked out wit[h] a blade on m[y] hip”.
“We’re cruising around, cruising around tryna get a man down. He’s on the news now I’m the talk of the town,” wrote the teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons because he is underage.
Hashim Mohamed died after being stabbed in St Kilda in December.Credit: Facebook
It was a hot summer’s evening on December 4, 2022, when two warring teen street gangs, the 9ers and the OGK, descended on St Kilda for a chance meeting that would leave Mohamed dead.
St Kilda foreshore was bustling with hundreds of members of the public including families and kids out enjoying a beautiful sunset.
On Friday, Crown prosecutor Kristie Churchill told the court that, on the night of the attack, there were 13 males on the beach affiliated with the 9ers, including Mohamed.
Another seven youths were connected with the OGK, also known as the Original Gangster Killers. In the preceding month, Churchill said there had been escalating tensions, rivalry and retaliation attacks between the two groups.
The two groups came together at 7.35pm near Luna Park. “A physical altercation quickly erupted,” Churchill said.
As knives and fists began swinging, the court heard an unarmed Mohamed tried to flee, running backwards before tripping and falling to the ground.
Several OGK associates then attacked him with knives, stabbing him to the back, legs and arm, as the victim tried to sit up and slide backwards, kicking out with his feet.
Police are investigating the stabbing, which unfolded in front of a number of witnesses on Sunday night.Credit: Nine News
During the attack, Churchill said one knife was stabbed with such force into the 18-year-old’s back that it remained there as the teens fled the scene on foot.
The black-handled kitchen knife had almost penetrated from his back through to his chest.
The prosecution conceded they could not prove who dealt the fatal blow, but say the 15-year-old and two others, affiliated with street gang OGK, came armed with knives.
Members of the offending gang later returned after the attack, Churchill said, to yell “you got what you deserved” before one teen attempted to spit on the dying boy.
Hashim Mohamed was fatally stabbed in St Kilda on December 4.
A postmortem found Mohamed had suffered six significant stab wounds including the fatal blow to the back.
The 15-year-old offender was arrested on December 15, 2022. Police seized his phone where they found images including two of police with the captions “on the run” and “come catch me”.
Churchill said lyrics found on the 15-year-old’s phone boasted about how Mohamed was stabbed.
“We juuged him up and left the scene all red, K to da 9 dem boyz just dead,” the lyrics said. “Hashim bucked me now his family grieving.”
In another song, the killer referenced a car crash Mohamed narrowly survived where four friends were killed in Truganina in 2021.
That rap, Churchill said, referenced all five in the car now being “over the sky”.
The court heard six other teenagers were also charged over the frenzied attack.
One, aged 18, at the time was later jailed for 195 days and placed on an 18-month community corrections order after pleading guilty to violent disorder.
All others, aged 17 and 16 at the time, were handed 12-month youth supervision orders or good behaviour bonds in a children’s court after pleading guilty to affray.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by the prosecution, Mohamed’s mother Ashir Osman said she sees her slain son in her dreams.
Brother Hamad Mohamed said he remained haunted by the image of his baby brother’s body immersed in a pool of blood on a searing hot day.
He described the final glimpse of his brother at the funeral home, when his body was zipped up in a bag on a cold metal bench. His once vibrant face was now devoid of life.
“There are moments when I close my eyes and can [see Mohamed] walking, laughing, playing. Other times I shut eyes only to be confronted by a haunting image of his lifeless body,” the brother wrote.
The 15-year-old will be sentenced for manslaughter at a later date.
The hearing comes as the state grapples with a youth crime crisis.
The Allan government has faced public backlash after a 17-year-old boy was granted bail following a crash in Burwood early this month that claimed the life of a young trainee doctor.
It stirred community outrage and propelled youth crime back into the political spotlight with Premier Jacinta Allan to sit down with key figures in the youth justice sector in coming days.
The government is considering several measures, including a tougher response to aggravated burglary cases, determining whether bail is revoked often enough and considering whether a trial of ankle bracelets for young alleged offenders should be fast-tracked.
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