Chief defends crime strategy as boy ‘sent home’ to Tiwi Islands after knife hold-up

Chief Minister Eva Lawler has praised Territory Families after it was confirmed an 11-year-old allegedly involved in weapon-wielding incidents was “sent home” to the Tiwi Islands.

Chief Minister Eva Lawler has doubled down on her “common sense” plan to tackle crime after two 11-year-olds were referred to Territory Families after their alleged involvement in two weapon-wielding incidents.

On Wednesday, a woman was threatened at knifepoint around 6.20pm by a boy on Harvey St in Darwin City, after the victim’s vehicle was hit by a thrown object.

Around 10.30pm that evening, police allege the same group of alleged offenders brutally attacked a taxi driver with a blunt weapon and proceeded to steal items from his vehicle.

Police confirmed four minors had been arrested in relation to the incident – two boys aged 13 and 14 and two boys aged 11.

A woman has been left shaken after she was confronted by a knife-wielding boy in Darwin on Wednesday.

While the teenagers were expected to be charged on Thursday, both 11-year-olds were conveyed into the care of a “responsible adult”, according to NT Police.

Under the Territory’s Criminal Code Act 1983, children under the age of 12 cannot be charged, in line with the government’s decision to raise the age of criminal responsibility up from aged 10 in August 2023.

On Thursday afternoon, Ms Lawler bemoaned the “major issue” of crime and the actions of the alleged offenders.

“One of the 11 year olds involved in this incident has been sent home to his family on the Tiwis, by Territory Families,” she told the NT News.

“These actions were appalling and they don’t come anywhere near to meeting the standards that Territorians accept.”

It was not confirmed if the other 11 year-old remained in Darwin.

Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro accused the government’s knife crime strategy as having “totally failed”.

“But also we have a chronic lack of consequences for offenders under a government that has watered down police powers and removed consequences for people who do the wrong thing.”