An “extraordinarily aggressive” Sudanese refugee who stabbed two men in a nightclub in Adelaide has been jailed for at least three years and four months.
Mathiang Malok, 26, who lived in Melbourne at the time of the March 2022 rampage, was found guilty of one count of “aggravated affray” and two counts of “aggravated causing harm with intent to cause harm” by a District Court judge in July last year.
Charges of attempted murder were dropped ahead of Malok’s trial, where Judge Joanna Tracey found the prosecution’s case was “overwhelming”, and that Malok actions were “clearly deliberate” and “focused” when he attacked his victims.
The brawl between a large group of African males at the Nairobi Affair Lounge on Grenfell Street in the city’s CBD left several people with injuries, including the two men stabbed by Malok.
On Friday Judge Tracey sentenced Malok to five years and eight months in jail with a non-parole period of three years and four months, both backdated to April 6, 2022 when he was arrested and taken into custody.
She noted that Malok maintained his innocence, but was in breach of a good behaviour bond at the time of the stabbing for disorderly conduct and resisting police, and that he claimed to be 23 despite official records saying he is 26.
Malok’s lawyer tried to argue that the attack was caused by his upbringing, based on a report from a forensic psychologist that found he had PTSD from witnessing war atrocities and hearing about his family’s traumatic experiences, Judge Tracey said in her sentencing remarks.
The psychologist, Louisa Hackett, wrote that Malok’s PTSD symptoms “likely contributed to an elevated sensitivity to the perception of threat and increased attachment to peer group relationships as a survival mechanism, which contributed to [Malok’s] involvement in the offending”.
Ms Hackett also said that Malok’s violent behaviour in prison was “illustrative of the inter-relationship between environmental stress and the post-traumatic symptomology”, and recommended that he be given “cultural mentorship”.
But Judge Tracey said that although it was not disputed that Malok had a “lived experience of serious and horrific violent episodes”, she disagreed with his lawyer’s argument that the nightclub stabbing was “spontaneous and not pre-meditated”, noting that he was in possession of several knives.
“The CCTV showed you bounding around armed with a knife, looking to stab multiple people. You demonstrated extraordinary aggression and it can be inferred that you were prepared to use the knife all along. The victims had posed no threat against you,” she told him in sentencing.
“While I accept that you had not intended to use a knife when you attended the venue and that the scene was somewhat chaotic, which I accept would have led to your heightened anxiety, you had gone armed with at least one knife and would appear to have resorted to its use without hesitation.
“I accept that the difficulties that you have faced in your life incite much sympathy and you are a young man with limited criminal history and mental health challenges. The seriousness of your offending does, however, demand a sentence that deters such violent and dangerous offending.”
Malok will be eligible for parole in August.
Header image: Left, Mathiang Malok (7 News). Right, CCTV of the nightclub brawl.
