A terrifying new outback Aboriginal gang called the ‘Jovi Warriors’ is behind days of violent unrest in a remote indigenous community that has left two houses burned down and four injured, locals say.
Police have arrested six men aged between 18 and 24 so far and deployed a tactical unit to the Northern Territory town of Daly River since violence erupted on Tuesday night, causing some residents to evacuate and making others homeless.
Then in the early hours of Wednesday dozens of Aboriginal gang members armed with crossbows, guns and other weapons drove back into the community of Nauiyu, damaging houses, and stealing a car which they set alight after it was crashed into a home.
Photos taken by locals show one man with a crossbow bolt through his torso, the torched remains of the stolen car, houses burning, and the insides of homes trashed.
John Daly, a resident and former police officer, said his family feared for their lives when the gang returned.
“We were in fear for our lives,” Mr Daly told ABC Radio Darwin.
“There were arrows flying everywhere, louvre blades, steel bars, rocks.
“They’d outnumbered us by about 80 people. There was nothing we could do to try and get our mob out. We just had to hunker down for the night.”
He said that despite multiple triple-zero calls police took 24 hours to arrives, but Police Minister Brent Potter told NT News officers had been tied up dealing with protesters at a housing development sight in Darwin.
“Devastating scenes in Daly River! Beautiful people in an amazing community. People must be held to account for this level of destruction and violence,” wrote another resident on social media.
Lana Daly, who lived in one of the houses that was destroyed, told ABC News an outback gang from Peppimenarti called the Jovi Boys had joined forced with a local gang called the Warriors, forming a massive new group.
Other locals who wanted to remain anonymous said the new Jovi Warriors gang had about 60 members, and said long-running familial disputes were also behind the violence.
Homes in Nauiyu were also destroyed and trashed during similar scenes in November last year.
The community began as a mission station where Aboriginal children from across the region were taken to be educated, but is now wracked by generations of family fighting.
