Former Tennant Creek mayor Jeffrey McLaughlin waiting outcome of citizen’s arrest probe

Twelve months since the release of a video showing his citizen’s arrest of a 12-year-old child, a former NT mayor is still waiting to learn if he’ll be charged. Read the latest.

Almost 12 months on from revelations he sat on a 12-year-old child as part of a so-called citizens arrest, the police investigation into former Tennant Creek mayor Jeffrey McLaughlin remains in limbo.

Video emerged last October of the incident in a Tennant Creek front yard two months earlier that had been filmed by a witness and given to the media.

The incident led to protests in the town amid calls for the mayor to quit or be sacked.

Within weeks, Barkly Regional Council was suspended by then Local Government Minister Chansey Paech – who called an independent investigation into its conduct.

The council was finally sacked last June, with new elections scheduled on November 2, and Mr McLaughlin subsequently left the town with his family to begin a new life in Queensland after 18 years in the Barkly.

Tennant Creek resident Graeme Kirk pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.

The harrowing video is about 20 minutes long and shows Mr McLaughlin waiting for police while sitting on the boy.

It also showed another man, Graeme Kirk, threatening to kill the child and placing his booted foot onto the boy’s head.

In March this year Mr Kirk pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and received a three-month suspended prison sentence with a good behaviour bond.

But the outcome of the investigation into Mr McLaughlin’s role in the incident remains a mystery, with police earlier this year confirming the file had been referred to the Department of Public Prosecutions.

Several requests by the NT News to the DPP’s office to determine the status of the investigation have been unsuccessful, with a spokesman for director Lloyd Babb SC refusing point blank to comment.

“The DPP will not be making a comment about this matter,” he said.

Criminal Lawyers Association of the NT president Beth Wild had no such hesitation, saying the 12-month delay was “unusual”.

“A delay of this length is unusual,” Ms Wild said.

“It does not seem to be a complicated matter and you would think the DPP or police would have made a determination as to whether it is proceeding by this stage.

Former Tennant Creek mayor Jeff McLaughlin texting police during his citizen’s arrest.

“A summary offence must be laid within six months, but there is no time limit on charging a more serious offence like assault. There is always an interest for the community, defendants and victims in matters proceeding in a timely fashion.”

An independent Territory legal observer, who requested anonymity, said Territory citizen’s arrest laws complicated the police’s capacity to prosecute the former mayor.

“The power exists, what matters is how the action is executed,” he said.

Under section 441(2) of the NT Criminal Code, any person can arrest another “whom (s) he finds committing an offence or behaving such that he or she believes on reasonable grounds that the offender has committed an offence and that an arrest is necessary for a range of specified reasons”.

Mr McLaughlin left behind a strong legacy in Tennant Creek, establishing the Winanjjikari music centre and helping establish the Tennant Creek Playgroup, which eventually became Family and First Teachers.

Pre-existing cannabis charges against the former mayor are scheduled to be heard in Alice Springs court at the end of October.

Mr McLaughlin would not comment for this story but in October 2023 defended his actions.

“Unfortunately, as is well-known to the residents of the Northern Territory, the Barkly Region and Central Australia is in the grips of a youth crime epidemic,” he said.

“On August 21, 2023, I made a citizen’s arrest of a youth attempting to break into my family home, as I am lawfully entitled to.”