Teen street gang is ‘fresh off the boat’ …

By Kelly Yates
DETECTIVES believe members of a teenage gang, who call themselves the FOBS (fresh off the boats), are responsible for a series of “callous and unprovoked attacks” in Hampton Park.
Police are warning the public about the “escalating issue of gang related violence” in the area following yet another attack which left Hampton Park man Patrick Duval with lacerations to his face and arms, swelling to his head and a possible broken nose.
Detective Senior Constable David Measham said Pacific Islander teenagers as young as 13 were involved in the gang, which congregate in the skate park near Hampton Park Secondary College.
Police have charged a 16-year-old boy from Hampton Park with assault and robbery following the attack on Mr Duval on Friday night.
Det Sen Const Measham said police were continuing investigations and calling for witnesses.
Mr Duval was seriously assaulted while walking along Campbell Drive at 11pm.
The 45-year-old said he would never walk the streets of Hampton Park alone at night again.
“I’ve got pain everywhere,” he said.
“One of them asked me for a cigarette, which I gave to him, then he asked for money and I said “no man”, and that’s when they started to bash me,” Mr Duval said.
Police think the same group of attackers also robbed and assaulted two boys two days later.
The 12 and 13-year-olds were playing on their BMX bicycles at the Cairns Road Recreation Reserve at 11am on Sunday 30 May when they were approached by some teenagers, described as being of Pacific Islander appearance, who demanded they hand over their bicycles.
Police said a minor assault took place before the teenagers stole the bicycles.
Det Sen Const Measham said police had investigated a large number of similar assaults and robberies over the past six months.
“A lot of the time, the young male attackers approach the victims late at night, demanding money or cigarettes, and then violently assault them,” he said.