Wadeye teen’s alleged ’haymaker’ swing in Darwin Woolworths narrowly avoided slicing man’s stomach

A ‘haymaker’ swing narrowly missed slicing through a man’s body during a large brawl in a popular Darwin supermarket, a court has heard.

A ‘HAYMAKER’ swing with a large knife narrowly missed slicing through a man’s abdomen during a large brawl in a popular Darwin supermarket, a court has heard.

A teenage boy appeared in the NT Youth Justice Court over his alleged involvement in an armed supermarket skirmish which left shoppers terrified and cowering in the aisles.

Police allege the boy, along with 10-30 other people, were involved in the brawl at the Darwin CBD Woolworths at 4.25pm Tuesday.

Footage of the alleged incident showed one person jumping into an unattended cafe shop and grabbing a large knife before chasing the group into the shopping centre.

As the supermarket alarms blared the fight continued into the self-service area and down aisle six.

Police arrested the teen who was charged with being armed, behaving violently in public and possessing cannabis.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Judge Thomasin Opie on Wednesday as six loved ones looked on from the court gallery.

Ms Opie said she was “alarmed” after reading the police’s summary of alleged facts.

“The defendant (allegedly) swung the knife back and forwards and in a sideways haymaker motion towards the male,” she said.

“The blade of the knife narrowly missed the abdomen of the male.

“The risk (he) could have been in trouble for assault causing serious harm is clear.”

The boy’s legal representative made a bail application asking for him to return to Wadeye and have his case considered by that local court.

“Given that there’s already a sentencing exercise underway across (11) other files it seems that the most appropriate thing to do is to have this matter heard by the same judge,” she said.

She said the teenager intended to plead guilty, and would benefit from returning home where he did not have any history of trouble.

She said his family would also be returning to Wadeye for Sorry Business, with three funerals for his mother’s father, her aunt, and a man who was fatally injured in the ongoing unrest in the West Daly region.

But his lawyer said that without an interpreter it was difficult to get detailed legal instructions from her young client.

“His first language is Murrinh-patha … He understands enough of what happened to indicate to the court that these matters are not contested, but I’m not able to take full instructions,” she said.

She said interpreter services were simply not currently available outside of Wadeye.

Prosecutors opposed bail, saying there was too great a risk to the “unknown targets” and wider community.

“The concern from police is also that this could also be a continuation of the … violence from Wadeye,” he said.

“It’s accepted that (he) isn’t accused of any offending in Wadeye. But this incident does, with that very generalised concern, raise issues with the potential returning to Wadeye.”

Turning to the boy Ms Opie told him she would deny bail, but would prepare a report to consider getting him home next week.

“It might be good for you to stay with (your Aunty) and get away from Darwin, where there might be more trouble,” she said.

“I know it’s important for you to get to those funerals, but I’m worried about there being more trouble.”

Ms Opie said the teenager would return to court on August 5, but said it could be listed earlier if additional information was available and a “fantastic bail proposal can be made”.

Originally published as Wadeye teen’s alleged ’haymaker’ swing in Darwin Woolworths narrowly avoided slicing man’s stomach