Two African thugs have been sentenced to 17 and 18.5 years’ jail for running over a 14-year-old boy and stabbing him 30 times with machetes in Melbourne.
Ethan Hoac, 14, who did not know his killers, was walking through St Albans with two friends on June 23, 2023, when the trio drove a stolen Volkswagen Tiguan into him from behind, and two jumped out with machetes and stabbed him to death.
The three thugs, who are all of Sudanese descent and had extensive criminal histories, then went to McDonald’s, ate hotcakes and were caught on CCTV joking around and re-enacting the murder. They cannot be named because they were 17 at the time.
One of the killers, who wrote rap lyrics glorifying the killing while in youth detention, was sentenced to 17 years’ jail with a non-parole period of 13 years last November, and the other two were sentenced in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Friday.
Justice Mandy Fox called the murder “random and brutal”, “appalling” and “cowardly”, and told the pair: “Ethan and his friends were targeted by you. They possessed no threat whatsoever.”
One of the thugs, who was behind the wheel of the car but did not stab Hoac, was given the longer sentence of 18.5 years because he has shown no remorse, and was found guilty by a jury after denying responsibility. He was given a 14-year non-parole period.
“If you had not struck Ethan, this attack couldn’t have occurred,” Justice Fox said.
“You reversed the car to near where the attack occurred to make it easier [both co-accused] to return to the vehicle.”
The second killer was given a 17-year prison sentence after entering an early guilty plea and writing an apology letter to Hoac’s family. He was given a slightly lower non-parole period than the third offender to reflect his remorse and prospects of rehabilitation.
The court heard all three were involved in a riot at a youth detention centre months after murdering Hoac.
Header image: Left, Ethan Hoac (supplied). Right, a police cordon at the scene (9News).
