A Labor MP has warned that non-indigenous women are being targeted in large numbers as aboriginal violent crime in Alice Springs reaches levels residents have never seen before.
Federal member for Lingiari, Marion Scrymgour made the comments on Friday following days of violence where a baby girl had her skull crushed in a home invasion, allegedly by two teenagers already facing 300 charges between them, and a White woman was allegedly raped in another home invasion by a 22-year-old.
Ms Scrymgour, an indigenous woman who lives in the lawless Northern Territory town, told ABC News on Friday the situation was “anarchy” and that White women were being preyed on in “big numbers”.
“There are non-Indigenous women being targeted in Alice Springs,” she said.
“Something needs to be done urgently because [these are] women who should be safe in their own homes.
“We’ve got lawlessness at a level that we haven’t seen before.”
She spoke out after a horrific attack on a female healthcare worker who was allegedly sexually assaulted by a man who climbed through a window into her bedroom and allegedly vaginally and orally raped her.
Police arrested the alleged offender, a 22-year-old who was released on a good behaviour bond after being jailed for multiple offences in 2022, and he allegedly told officers he “had sex with a White woman”, The Australian reported.
Breaking: The Northern Territory opposition has called for an immediate curfew on everyone in Alice Springs after a two-month-old baby was airlifted to Adelaide hospital with a serious head injury following a violent home invasion.
The horrific incident comes less than a week… pic.twitter.com/dw2CAA9nJM
— Liam Mendes (@liammendes) December 12, 2024
On Tuesday Alice Springs Town Councillor Michael Liddle, who is also indigenous, led a “men’s march” through the streets calling for an end to violence against women. but just a day later the baby and her mother were attacked.
Mr Liddle said the attack showed that aboriginal criminality in the town had “crossed a line” and called for children to be removed from their families as a result, NT News reported.
“The amount of service providers that get knocked around by this, by this current trend of behaviour from Aboriginal people is not good for our mental health,” he said.
“There are times when I feel like I need to switch off, but I’m an aboriginal person and I live and I breathe and I see this type of life and I can’t switch off after knock-off hours. I can’t switch my aboriginality off and I don’t want to, but I can’t hide from the fact that the current display of behaviour has crossed the line.
“These many young children, sadly, they have to be removed from this environment and they need to be placed somewhere, and it’s a totally different concept to the stolen generation. They need to be placed in an area that provides calmness and safety away from this environment.”
Two males, aged 16 and 17, appeared in Alice Springs Local Court on Thursday, and had been previously charged a combined 300 times before Tuesday’s alleged home invasion, and had been bailed 35 times.
Police allege a detachable metal fridge handle was used to strike the mother but rebounded off her onto the head of the two-month-old girl, fracturing her skull. The baby was flown to a hospital in Adelaide where she is in a serious by stable condition.
A GoFundMe has been started to help the baby and her family.
Header image: Left, the baby who suffered the skull fracture (GoFundMe). Right, the rape suspect (Facebook).
