A SPIKE of violence in Wentworth caused by alleged gang retaliation has everyone pointing fingers at a group of infamous young men who claim they are innocent.
The Young Destroyers, who seem to be blamed for every shooting and murder in the suburb, spoke to the Sun exclusively on condition of anonymity, denouncing allegations they are to blame for the alleged retaliatory shootings in the area and the recent petrol bombing of a Wentworth church.
“Whenever there is a shooting or a fight, or whatever in Wentworth they come to Reiger Road and blame us. For example, if there is a stabbing at a Wentworth school between the pupils – even if the children are not from the area – the police leave the school and come raid here. Why? You are not addressing the problem – what does that incident have to do with us?
Whenever there is a shooting or a fight, or whatever in Wentworth they come to Reiger Road and blame us
The Young Destroyers’ name always comes up when something happens. We believe we have such a stigma attached to us because of the older generation and one man in particular who is well-known in the area for orchestrating many murders and other crimes. But he left more than a decade ago and is no longer affiliated to the Young Destroyers, so the reputation should’ve shifted with him,” said one of the gang members.
The gang claims they have been accused of many crimes for which they have been proven innocent. They added that most of the time the accused gang member was never at the place where it happened.
They claim whenever there is an incident in Wentworth, the police arrive swiftly at their homes to conduct raids, but when they call for help, there is no answer. Having given up on the police, the men who are mostly under the age of 30, don’t know who to turn to.
“The police treat us like animals – they come and attack us like they are gangsters themselves. Are we not human – do we not have rights? When we need them they’re not available but when we don’t need them, they’re here, pushing past us in the flats. If we go to the police station and want to open a charge, they laugh at us. They ask us ‘how can anyone mess with you?’ – they don’t want to take our charges.
When did we stop being human beings that we don’t need the law on our side? At the end of the day, we are taxpayers and we contribute to this country yet the police can’t come to my defence when I call for help,” the emotional group said.
During a shooting at the flats on Friday, 27 May a woman claims she called the police twice but they never arrived. Bullets holes could be seen inches below the window of a room in which a toddler sleeps.
“Why doesn’t anyone come to our defence? We have had our family and friends shot. We sleep on the floor because we are scared of being shot in our sleep. We are threatened, our children are threatened and it is all unnecessary.
My neighbour, while hanging her washing, watched as boys in broad daylight shot at each other. We are also sick and tired of hearing gunshots.
We were blamed for the recent shooting of a man at a Florida Road venue and the church petrol bombing. An off-duty policeman was charged and held responsible for the shooting and we had nothing to do with the petrol bombing. We want to know how this ends,” said another member of the gang.
“The police treat us like animals – they come and attack us like they are gangsters themselves. Are we not human – do we not have rights?
“We don’t even get visitors because people are scared of what might happen at the flats, who will get shot next,” added one furious woman.
The Young Destroyers also blame the church’s pastor, who they believe is fanning the fire. They said instead of remaining impartial and helping mediate towards finding a solution, the pastor chose sides and pointed fingers.
“We were not responsible for the petrol bombing and by blaming us without proof only fans the flames of this situation, making it worse. There is an ongoing problem with gangsterism in the area and always placing blame at the feet of the Young Destroyers is wrong – it can’t always be our fault.
People forget we also have families and we lead normal lives but this is made hard because our own children are being threatened by other gangs. Our children have nothing to do with what is going on yet they are left traumatised.
We are always burying people, yet only one side of the story is always told. We want things to change – we want this to end.”
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