Street gang knifed Daniel Awak, 14, to death

POLICE are yet to establish what sparked a bloody brawl between Sudanese youth, which left a 14-year-old boy dead and another fighting for his life.

Schoolboy Daniel Awak was killed after being chased down and repeatedly stabbed in a busy street in central Adelaide.

A group of about 12 Sudanese youth, many armed with knives, clashed violently on Grenfell St before several boys caught Daniel and the other youth.

Yesterday police said they had not yet identified a clear motive for Wednesday's attack but understood there was a series of altercations which led to the incident.

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Despite having identified the key people involved in the brawl, police said no arrests have yet been made over the boy's death but a 16-year-old boy had been charged with aggravated assault on police and resisting arrest.

South Australia has a Sudanese community of about 1500 people.

"Some cultures tend to have a payback type of justice and one of the things for communities that come to Australia (to understand) is that we do have a legal judicial system and what we expect is for people to operate within that," Deputy Police Commissioner Gary Burns said.

"We operate within the current law. Several years ago we looked for changes to legislation in terms of knives and other weapons. Recently we've been looking at legislation again."

Daniel attended Sacred Heart College middle school, where the principal Brian Schumacher yesterday said staff and students were shocked by the news.

"They were devastated because they have a sense of how much Daniel was making the most of his life here . . . and that he was studying hard for his exams that were coming up in the next couple of weeks," Mr Schumacher said.

Yesterday the Archbishop of Adelaide issued a plea asking people to not let the killing lead to racial stereotyping. Archbishop Jeffrey Driver said violence occurred across society.

"Having said that, we also need to recognise the special needs of the Sudanese who have come to us from appalling and often traumatic circumstances," Archbishop Driver said.

With about 80 per cent of the South Australian Sudanese population under the age of 30 and a marked increase in crime among the group, Mr Burns denied there was a problem with gangs emerging across the state.

He said the fact that the attack was in broad daylight in a highly-populated area added a level of fear among the public.

"In most instances violent offences are against their own community," he said.