Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Darwin mother Afrodite Larentzou speaks out about a frightening street brawl in Moil involving more than 20 people with axes

Transcript

Darwin mother Afrodite Larentzou speaks out about a frightening street brawl in Moil involving more than 20 people with axes · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now, as I mentioned, vision has emerged from the weekend
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: of a fight well out on the streets in the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: northern suburbs. A large group of people kids nearby as well.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: It is terrifying stuff. They're armed with weapons and joining
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  Speaker 1: me on the line to tell me a little bit
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  Speaker 1: more about what she saw. Is Afraviti. Good morning to you, Afraviti.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Good morning to everyone.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so very much for your time this morning. Now, Afraviti,
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  Speaker 1: when exactly did this happen?
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  Speaker 2: So this happened Friday at one pm, at the middle
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  Speaker 2: of the day.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, in the middle of the day on Friday. Now,
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  Speaker 1: for those who haven't seen this, vision just ascribed to
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  Speaker 1: us exactly what you saw unfold.
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  Speaker 2: Sure, I didn't manage to take the whole thing, but
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  Speaker 2: at the beginning, before I started with a video, we
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  Speaker 2: had a man on the ground with an axe on
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  Speaker 2: his throat. So that was really scary for me. I
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  Speaker 2: actually thought he was dead. And then I managed to
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  Speaker 2: start recording it. It was so shocking. I couldn't believe
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  Speaker 2: this is happening.
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  Speaker 1: It's unbelievable. I mean, well, I guess we wish that
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  Speaker 1: it was unbelievable, but Unfortunately, this kind of thing is
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  Speaker 1: happening on the streets of Darwin.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, exactly, it's happening. It's happening every single day, and
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  Speaker 2: not at dark I mean in the middle, middle of
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  Speaker 2: the day.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Afraviti, Now this happened in the northern suburbs. You
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  Speaker 1: don't have to say which suburb if you don't want to,
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  Speaker 1: because I'm obviously I want to make sure that you know,
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  Speaker 1: we don't want to put you in any kind of
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  Speaker 1: danger in any way, shape or form. But there was
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  Speaker 1: kids around, There was people of all ages. How many
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  Speaker 1: people do you think were involved?
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  Speaker 2: It was more than many people total, I would say,
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  Speaker 2: and there was like three or four minus you can
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  Speaker 2: see on the video too with them in that group.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm just saying it was Sorry I'm losing my words,
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  Speaker 2: but if could that happened like at two thirty because
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  Speaker 2: at the corner there's a primary school and kids after
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  Speaker 2: school they walk on the self set home, So I
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  Speaker 2: don't know what could happen there.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Affraviti, you live, you live in this suburb, You've
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  Speaker 1: got small children or you've got a small child, don't you.
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  Speaker 2: I've got a fourteen year old and a six month
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  Speaker 2: per baby. I don't mind to tell it's in Moil,
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  Speaker 2: because it's gone all over social media anyway, so I
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  Speaker 2: don't mind to say where it is. It's in Moil.
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  Speaker 1: So in Moil, and the school is just nearby Afraviti
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  Speaker 1: in the corner. That must be pretty frightening in itself
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  Speaker 1: thinking about your fourteen year old getting home from school
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  Speaker 1: as well.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes, how are.
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  Speaker 1: You feeling in terms of what had happened like literally
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  Speaker 1: just outside your place.
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  Speaker 2: I've witnessed many many fights in an everyday basis with
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  Speaker 2: bloody nose and everything, but I've never witnessed something like
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  Speaker 2: this with weapons, because it was actually we analyzed the
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  Speaker 2: video with a reporter and it's actually five x not
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  Speaker 2: three that shows on the video. And yeah, I can
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  Speaker 2: say I was just so scared. I backed up a bit.
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  Speaker 2: I went inside my home because I was afraid they
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  Speaker 2: might see me and throw anything to me. But I
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  Speaker 2: want to mention that very next day, Saturday morning, I
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  Speaker 2: was sitting at my balcony and a man was walking
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  Speaker 2: through and swearing and yelling. I didn't really pay any notice,
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  Speaker 2: but when he said you're the one who took the video,
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  Speaker 2: I realized he was attacking me. So he started swearing
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  Speaker 2: at me, threading me, and luckily I had a man
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  Speaker 2: driving through with a van. I'm so lucky he was
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  Speaker 2: at that moment. He stopped and he asked if I'm
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  Speaker 2: all right, and I said, not really, he's threading me. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: so he called the police straight away and the guy
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  Speaker 2: started assaulting the van, kicking the van, throwing rocks and everything. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Do you know did the police turn up? And do
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  Speaker 1: you know what's happened with that person now?
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  Speaker 2: So? Yeah, luckily the police was here in ten minutes
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  Speaker 2: and they did arrest him. They came like three times
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  Speaker 2: at my house after that, the police to take statements
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  Speaker 2: from me. I was told that he was not even
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  Speaker 2: from Darwin. They are from Alice Spring.
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  Speaker 1: My goodness, yeah, oh, my goodness, Afrovid.
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  Speaker 2: How are you? They could tell me.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, how are you feeling? I mean you like, are
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  Speaker 1: you feeling scared? How are you feeling right now?
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  Speaker 2: Feeling I'm feeling scared because it wasn't only him. After
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  Speaker 2: the police arrested that guy, there was a group of
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  Speaker 2: five six people walking through and pointing at my house
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  Speaker 2: and yelling. So I've been targeted. They know it's me,
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  Speaker 2: they know where I live, and luckily I had the
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  Speaker 2: Liam Mendez that reported at my house at the time,
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  Speaker 2: and he went out to the balcony just to show them,
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  Speaker 2: you know, there's a man here back off.
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  Speaker 1: That's really good. Good on him for doing that, and
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  Speaker 1: yeah and yeah, oh look, I can't imagine how you
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  Speaker 1: must be feeling. You know, we want to make sure
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  Speaker 1: that our children are safe no matter what, but we
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  Speaker 1: cannot have a situation where this kind of thing is
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  Speaker 1: happening on the streets. And I think it's really brave
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  Speaker 1: of you to make sure that you shared that vision
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  Speaker 1: and let people know that this is happening, because it's
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  Speaker 1: not okay.
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  Speaker 2: It's not okay, and I'm really angry. I've had so
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  Speaker 2: many messages from people saying that I'm brave, but I've
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  Speaker 2: had hate messages too that I'm a mother and I
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  Speaker 2: should protect my children. But I feel that this is
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  Speaker 2: the way that I'm am going to protect my children
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  Speaker 2: because something needs to be done. And I don't regret
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  Speaker 2: posting that video.
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  Speaker 1: Yep, Afroviti, I know you've you moved here from Grace.
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  Speaker 1: My understanding is a few years back. What a few
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  Speaker 1: thoughts since you've been here and after you know, seeing
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  Speaker 1: what's going on outside your own home.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I came here for a better future for my daughter,
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  Speaker 2: my fourteen year old daughter back then, and I really
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  Speaker 2: don't know what to say anymore. I have to live
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  Speaker 2: in Darwin because I've got a baby here, but I'm terrified.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know this. Is this going to be fixed
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  Speaker 2: or is it going to get worse?
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  Speaker 1: It has to be, Afrovidi, it has to be. We're
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  Speaker 1: all so fed up and over it. Everybody wants to
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  Speaker 1: see some change. It has to change.
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  Speaker 2: How is it possible to say there's no crime in
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  Speaker 2: Darwin exactly?
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  Speaker 1: That's exactly right. You'd have to be living under a rock,
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't you to think that that is the case, Afrevidi.
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  Speaker 1: I really appreciate you having a chat with me this morning.
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  Speaker 1: And look, I can understand why you posted that video
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  Speaker 1: because people do need to know what's going on around
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  Speaker 1: the place. And I'm glad that it's on the front
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  Speaker 1: page of the Australian newspaper today because the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the nation needs to know what's going on.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I agree.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate
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  Speaker 1: you speaking with me. Thank you, Afreviti