Daly River gang violence evacuees call for task force, thank hero cops for saving them from Jovi Boys

A woman displaced by the violence in a remote NT town has thanked the officers who ‘risked their lives to come and get women and the baby out of the house’ after she says it was set alight by members of the Jovi Boys gang.

Evacuees from Nauiyu/Daly River who have been forced to take refuge in Adelaide River after their homes were raided by the Jovi Boys. Picture: Jason Walls

Evacuees from Nauiyu/Daly River are calling for an ongoing police taskforce to be stationed in the township while praising the local officers who “risked their lives” to save them from marauding gang members.

One resident, who has called Nauiyu home for more than two decades and did not want to be named for fear of further violence, told the NT News her home was now unlivable after it was set on fire by Jovi Boys.

Speaking from outside Adelaide River where her family fled last week, the woman said they were at home last Tuesday afternoon when the gang members arrived on her doorstep.

“They were all everywhere with all sorts of arrows, crossbows, axes everything, they were calling out for a fair go fight,” she said.

“My nephew ran out into the backyard and as soon as he ran out to see what’s going on, an arrow went flying past him.

“We couldn’t get out of the house, they were just everywhere.”

Moments later the woman said the gang members stole a nearby car and were doing burnouts before turning back towards her house.

“I ran towards the second room, that’s where my daughter-in-law and my eight-month-old baby was resting, I ran to tell them to get out of the bedroom, but they already moved into my bedroom which was at the other end of the house,” she said.

“As I was running towards bedroom number two the boys said ‘move, move the car’s going to crash into the house’, next minute, I stood in front of my 14-year-old’s bedroom door, I just heard that big bang, the car crashed in.”

The woman said if not for the only two police officers in Nauiyu at the time, who had travelled from Wadeye, things could have ended up far worse.

“I want to thank them, they risked their lives to come and get women and the baby out of the house, that was scary,” she said.

Evacuees from Nauiyu/Daly River who have been forced to take refuge in Adelaide River after they say their homes were raided by the Jovi Boys. Picture: Jason Walls

“The boys were all yelling ‘they’re going to trap us, they’re going to burn us in the house, what are we going to do?’ and the police car came and parked right near the front door.

“(They were) yelling out ‘get the baby out of the house, where’s the baby?’ – we all jumped in the police car.”

The woman said the officers drove the group of women and children to the local police station but there were still young teenage boys trapped in the house.

“When I got to the police station the smoke was getting in the house and I was stressing for my son that was still there and I said to the police ‘can you go back and get my son?’ (but they said) ‘there’s nothing we can do till more police come’,” she said.

“I started screaming, crying, I felt like running back from the police station back home.

“My (other) son jumped in his Toyota and scared them all off and the little ones all ran (away).”

The woman said there had been “a little bit of unrest” in the community in the weeks prior “but that settled”.

“This is an ongoing thing from last year’s grand final, but that settled, that was between community mob, Daly River mob, us and the middle camp mob,” she said.

She said when she went back to her house the next day it was “trashed”, including significant fire damage and furniture strewn in the street, so they went bush.

“We were watching yesterday, they were livestreaming on Instagram, taking things from our homes,” she said.

“Some family members here are stressing to go back home because they’re going to go back to nothing or even worse, find their house burning,” she said.

The woman said a family member whose house was burnt down in similar circumstances five years ago had offered to take her in to its newly-built replacement.

A burnt out car crashed into a home in Daly River during last week’s unrest.

“I want to go back to Daly River, that’s home, outside of Daly River there’s nothing for me, Daly River is my home but I don’t have a house there anymore,” she said.

“(She) offered to take us in, I’m happy with that but I just want the police to get rid of the troublemakers

“I reckon we don’t need police, we need a tougher one, like a taskforce based there, we want to go home.”

An NT Police spokesman said officers had received “reports of up to five residences having received damage from fire and up to seven residences allegedly having received various amounts of criminal damage” last week.

Three men are due to face the Darwin Local Court on Tuesday charged with multiple offences stemming from the unrest, including taking part in a riot.

Originally published as Daly River gang violence evacuees call for task force, thank hero cops for saving them from Jovi Boys