A 10-year-old boy has been charged after an Italian tourist was allegedly sexually assaulted in the centre of Cairns on Wednesday morning.
Police said the woman, 23, was allegedly attacked by a boy who is well-known to local law enforcement at 10am in the central business district of the Indigenous crime-ravaged Far North Queensland town.
“She walked past the 10-year-old male child and he has sexually assaulted her,” Detective Inspector Kevin Goan said.
“The lady has called for police assistance and at that time she was set upon by a number of other juveniles.”
Police arrived moments later, and took the accused and three other youths into custody.
The other three juveniles were later released, while the 10-year-old was charged with one count of sexual assault, common assault and assault occasioning bodily harm whilst in company.
The woman suffered scratches and minor bruising, but did not need hospital treatment, police said.
“The young age of the alleged offenders is abhorrent as far as I’m concerned,” Det Insp Goan said.
“People are entitled to go about their business in our community (and) for that to occur would have been a traumatic experience for the young lady … this is a sad indictment that she will take away from her experience in Cairns.”
Indigenous Australians make up 10.6% of the Cairns population, but a local business owner told Noticer News that Aboriginal youths are responsible for “almost all” the crime.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, despite being just 4.6% of the Queensland population, Indigenous people made up 20.7% of the offenders proceeded against by police in the year to June 2023, and were 37.2% of the state’s prison population.
