Alice Springs youth hurl rocks at cars, brawl with pub patrons over violent weekend
/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/CW3CJWUYYND2RHFFUGCUKSTGIQ.JPG?resize=1024,1024 "Alice Springs youth hurl rocks at cars, brawl with pub patrons over violent weekend")
A bar patron got into a fight with one of the teenagers. Photo / Rachel Hale / Facebook
Warning: Contains violent behavior
Out-of-control youth in Alice Springs have been filmed racially abusing, spitting and assaulting bar patrons in a weekend of violence, just days after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to the troubled Outback town.
Rachel Hale (45) captured the series of encounters from her room above The Diplomat Hotel on Gregory Terrace in the CBD.
In one video, a group of young indigenous girls are seen standing outside the bar’s fence and shouting at customers, before leaning over and spitting on a woman sitting at a table.
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Another video shows a man in a red shirt chasing a group of boys down the street after they allegedly stole something from his exterior.
In a third video, a young man in a gray shirt gets into a fistfight with one of the teenagers while the bar’s security guard stands by and watches.
“Kids taunting adults and spitting on ‘white *****’, stealing from cars in front, very young children on the street, disgusting violence, pack hunting and the level of hatred shown towards people in the line of fire will be at my ghost !” Hale wrote in a Facebook post that has been shared more than 1,000 times.
“The police struggle to catch anyone – they run as soon as they see them. I feel sick to my stomach to see this and must stay here too! Not much sleep – one of the scariest nights of my life. It went on all night!”
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The nurse, who lives in Darwin but owns a business in the town and visits every two months, said she decided to film the chaotic scenes and share the footage so the rest of Australia could see the everyday reality for Alice Springs- residents can see.
“People describe these events happening here, but nobody actually sees them,” she told news.com.au.
“Probably by 19:00 it started. The most disturbing part is the defiance by these children – for the locals it’s like water off a duck’s back – but they stand on the other side of the fence and hurl insults. It’s just disgusting and racist. “You white b***h, you white c**t.” Everyone is sick of it. The customers downstairs, they shot back and said they had to run, but they didn’t stop.”
Northern Territory Police have appealed for witnesses to come forward.
“NT Police condemns any form of anti-social behaviour, particularly alcohol-related violence, within our community,” a spokesperson told news.com.au in a statement.
“We urge anyone who witnesses a crime or antisocial behavior to contact 131 444, or in an emergency, 000. You can also report anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.”
A news.com.au photographer saw a group of youths – including at least one girl wearing an ankle monitor – scrawling graffiti on walls along the Stuart Highway and throwing rocks at passing cars.
Distraught youths abused and spat on bar patrons. Photo / Rachel Hale/Facebook
At one point, an angry tradie jumped out of his truck and chased two of the teenagers toward the Stott Terrace intersection near the Westpoint shopping center.
One of the teenagers turned and picked up a stone from the ground and stopped in the middle of the road at the traffic lights to threaten the man.
Hale said the police were virtually powerless to stop the young offenders.
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Under controversial legal reforms approved by the Australian Labor government in December, the Northern Territory became the first Australian jurisdiction to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12.
Children under 12 who engage in behavior that would normally constitute an offense will instead be offered “intensive” therapeutic programs and psychological assessments.
The bill also simplified the legal test, commonly known as ‘doli incapax’, which is used to determine whether a child under the age of 14 has the mental capacity to commit an offence.
“Because children of that age cannot be charged now, the adults load the cars with children and drop them off in the suburbs; they go and do all the crimes,” said baker Darren Clark, founder of the Facebook page Action for Alice.
“And if they get caught, it’s a thing called ‘doli incapax’, which means ‘I don’t know what I’m doing’. They plead it on the spot, and the cops just take them home.”
Launching the proposed changes in October, Attorney-General Chansey Paech insisted “the evidence is clear – the earlier a child enters the justice system, the more likely they are to re-offend”.
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“Punitive measures are not a deterrent for 10- and 11-year-olds,” Paech said at the time, the NT News reported.
“In fact, it is more likely to increase behavioral problems and reoffending. It’s time to get smarter about our juvenile justice approach and break the cycle of juvenile crime. We are asking Territorians to come on the journey with us. We heard loud and clear that the old system was not working.”
Hale, like other locals in the town, which is besieged on some nights by hundreds of marauding youths, slammed the government as out of touch with reality.
“What would you have the police do with an 11-year-old who just assaulted someone with a machete, attempted rape, punched someone with a rock, broke into a storefront?” Hale said.
“What happens in Alice Springs is they move on – if they can catch them. The kids know that, so their behavior has become quite rude. You can slap an ankle bracelet on all these kids – then what?”
She also slammed the opposition for simply pointing the finger at Labour.
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“I am tired of one political person blaming the other party,” she said. “We don’t care whose problem it is, we care that the problem is solved.”
Hale warned that unless the youth crime problem is addressed soon, she fears something bad will happen.
“People get fed up,” she said. “Somebody’s going to lose their s**t and get revenge, and one of these kids is going to die, and it’s going to be all over the news.”
She said local residents were well aware that the book would be thrown at them.
In March last year, a machine operator was charged with murder – later downgraded to manslaughter – after he shot dead an Aboriginal man who had broken into his property in the Cutta Cutta Caves Nature Park, 30 kilometers south of Katherine.
Kim Kellett (39) was sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison for the shooting of Christian George (29), who entered the family’s home at around 04:00 on March 17.
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“It was not his intention to kill another man,” Kellett’s lawyer Jon Tippett KC told the court in October, NITV reported. “He did nothing more than protect his family.”
It comes after another weekend of violent crime in Alice Springs, where a frightening surge in home invasions, car thefts, assaults and property crime has sparked an “exodus” among the town’s 26,000 residents.
NT Police said on Monday that two men had been charged over two separate home invasions in recent days.
“Yesterday at 06:00 two men, aged 17 and 20 respectively, allegedly illegally entered a residence in Andrews Court, Braitling,” the police said.
“One of the men allegedly threatened the 75-year-old female resident with a blunt weapon before stealing her vehicle keys. Both men were arrested shortly afterwards.”
The 20-year-old was charged with aggravated robbery, serious unlawful entry and criminal damage to property.
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The 17-year-old was further identified as suspected of being involved in a serious trespass at a residence in Memorial Drive, Gillen last Monday night, where a 74-year-old female victim suffered a broken wrist after being assaulted.
The teenager was hit with a string of charges including aggravated robbery, aggravated trespass, unlawfully causing grievous hurt and serious breach of bail.
“It is absolutely disgusting that two vulnerable members of our community have been preyed upon in this way,” Acting Detective Sergeant Rob Kent said.
“There is absolutely no excuse for this violent behavior and the police will continue to ensure that these perpetrators are brought to justice.”
Albanese and NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles made an emergency visit to Alice Springs last Tuesday to announce new restrictions on alcohol purchases in response to the crime wave – which made international headlines.
But the announcement was largely panned by local leaders and community members.
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Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson said he was “skeptical” the Monday and Tuesday ban on takeaway alcohol sales would work – and feared it could only lead to more burglaries.
“We’re already seeing people breaking into properties at 3am, 4am to obtain alcohol,” he told news.com.au.
“What’s going to happen if they take alcohol away from these people for two days?”
Paterson stressed the crime wave was “certainly not isolated to children”.
“Adults break into alcohol, and kids break into cars and a range of things,” he said.
Police and Families Minister Kate Worden said in a statement on Monday that “in response to recent events and community sentiment in Alice Springs”, the Government is taking “further direct action with strict and proportionate measures to tackle alcohol-related crime and anti-social behaviour”. Central Australia”.
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“Immediate measures include restrictions on takeaway alcohol, a police enforcement blitz on the premises to stop people on the banned drinkers’ register accessing alcohol in bars and clubs, and more CCTV,” Worden said.
“The police continue to do their job, with Operation Drina still ongoing. Reducing alcohol supply supports the police by reducing the number of responses they currently experience due to alcohol abuse and enables them to use more preventative measures around community policing.”
Worden added that “where young people commit criminal acts, the police still have the power to arrest them and ensure they face consequences through the Juvenile Justice System”.
“We must continue to ensure that there are more pathways, especially for young people, that enable them to break away from circumstances that influence their behavior and put them on a better path,” she said.
“This is part of our ongoing work with the Commonwealth, which has a dual responsibility as it particularly relates to children living in remote communities. [who] be transferred to Alice Springs.”
She said the NT Government was working with the Commonwealth “on a range of initiatives to address both alcohol-related harm and displaced families and children across Central Australia”.
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“This will complement the work already being undertaken by the Territory Government as we continue to work with community members, traditional owners and experts to implement long-term, smart solutions that are proven to break the cycle of crime and make stronger, building safer communities. ,” she said.
