Police still investigating Alice Springs rock throwing incident

Police are scouring CCTV and calling for witnesses to a rock-throwing incident which saw an Alice Springs tow-truck driver lose sight in his left eye. Find out where the investigation is at.

Police are continuing to call for witnesses to a rock-throwing incident which led an Alice Springs tow truck driver to lose sight in his left eye.

Speaking to ABC radio on Tuesday morning, Acting Commander Shaun Gill said detectives were investigating the incident, but there were no suspects or leads yet.

“This is one of these things, its described as rock throwing but its not rock throwing its actually serious harm,” he said.

“I spoke to detectives quickly this morning and I don’t understand there are any (leads), but we’re going through CCTV and I understand there has been a call for witnesses.

“If anyone does know anything I’m very keen to get these people before the courts.”

It comes as Namatjira MLA Bill Yan called for urgent targeted action by the government towards rock throwers in Alice Springs.

Last Wednesday evening, an Alice Springs tow truck driver was struck in the eye by a rock on Larapinta Dr, with surgery unable to save his left eye.

His employer, Andrew Mowles, said rocks were thrown at tow trucks completing late-night jobs so often he kept spare side windows for his trucks in the office.

Mr Yan has lived in the area for 33 years, including a large portion working in tour buses, and said he had never seen the behaviour become as prevalent as the past six months.

Alice Springs tow truck driver Matt lost his vision in his left eye after a rock was thrown at him while completing a recovery job about 10.30pm on Wednesday evening. Supplied: Andrew Mowles.

“It’s been escalating, and after I put up a post up about the tow truck driver I’ve got messages from other truck drivers saying they hate driving through Alice Springs, I’ve spoken to the boss of ATG Downunder and they’ve had all sorts of issues with windows smashing on buses for the last six or twelve months.

“It’s not just cars either, there’s people that live along Lyndavale Dr, their car windows are smashed in their driveways, windows of housing units are being smashed by rocks, all their solar panels on the roofs of their houses are smashed by rocks,” he said.

Mr Yan said when door knocking residents in Larapinta 15 to 20 per cent of residents said rock throwing was an issue for them, with Mr Yan unable to estimate how many complaints he’d received about the issue through letters or email.

He wants to see the Government taking a targeted approach towards the issue, including making rock throwing its own offence.

Youth throwing rocks outside a residents house in Larapinta, Alice Springs, a suburb where a tow truck driver lost site in his left eye following an incident on Wednesday evening. Supplied: Bill Yan.

“It needs to have an offence attached to it. At the end of the day there needs to be some consequences for actions.

“There probably is an offence now included under something else, like physical assault. But with the increase, are the perpetrators not being prosecuted or are they just being let go? I don’t know and it’s very hard to get statistics on what those actual figures might be.”

He said he had been making noise around rock-throwing in Larapinta in particular for “a while now”, and wanted to see the Government take proactive action to keep residents safe.

Rocks collected outside a residents house in Larapinta, Alice Springs. Namatjira MLA Bill Yan is calling for the Government to take a targeted approach to rock-throwing.

“The governments knows it’s going on in these areas, what are they doing to actually target the people that are responsible for doing it?”

He was concerned that if no urgent action was taken issues would continue to get worse.

Mr Yan was previously suspended from Facebook for 24 hours after posting a 40-second clip talking about rock throwing in Larapinta.

“Look at what happened to Matt, his truck luckily came up to a stop and police were behind him following him.

“What happens if Matt had lost control over the truck at the biggest intersection in town? The consequences don’t bear thinking about.

“Then you look at a tour bus driving through the Gap with 30 or 40 people on it, what happens if a driver loses control of the vehicle with 40 people on the bus? Again, the consequences you couldn’t bear thinking about.”

Originally published as Police still investigating Alice Springs rock throwing incident