Young girl allegedly sexually assaulted in Tennant Creek

A YOUNG girl has allegedly been sexually assaulted in the small Northern Territory town of Tennant Creek. Another child is believed to be responsible.

NORTHERN Territory Police are investigating after a young girl, believed to be just four years old, was allegedly sexually assaulted in the small outback community at Tennant Creek.

The incident took place on Sunday and the other child involved is under age and unable to be charged.

“Due to the ages of the children involved, the matter has since been referred to Territory Families,” a police spokeswoman said in a statement.

The news comes hours after NT Police released a 24-year-old man who was wrongly charged over the alleged sexual assault of a two-year-old girl. 

The man, who has not been named, had been arrested in relation to an alleged attack on the toddler in her home on February 15. The young girl was transported to Alice Springs and then later to Adelaide for treatment. She has since been removed from her family’s care.

Since February, more disturbing cases have come to light.

A 16-year-old allegedly raped a four-year-old boy at the Aboriginal community of Ali Curung, 170km southeast of Tennant Creek, late in March.

A two-year old girl was flown to hospital after being sexually assaulted at Tennant Creek.

In April, news.com.au revealed that Tennant Creek police were still investigating an alleged sexual assault of a four-year-old girl — by a teenage male relative — that happened in January.

The tiny township, 1000km from Darwin, is home to just 2900 people, half of whom are indigenous Australians.

Kristin Shorten, a freelance journalist based in the Northern Territory, wrote last month that cases of sexual assault at Tennant Creek would not have become public if it weren’t for journalists.

“A conspiracy of silence in remote indigenous communities — by locals and government departments — is failing its children,” Shorten wrote.

“Families in Tennant Creek have dogs, a big lock on their gate and an eagle eye on their kids, even in their own yards.

“Beyond the barbed wire fences, footpaths are littered with broken glass, unaccompanied toddlers wear days-old nappies (if any) and gangs of bored girls break into cars.

“The tiny town boasts a pristine local pool and puts on regular events but there’s nowhere for kids to go at night.”

Originally published as Young girl allegedly sexually assaulted in Tennant Creek