How a Territory teenager went from star athlete to being locked up in Don Dale

A desperate mother has shared how her daughter, a talented athlete slipped into addiction and ended up inside Don Dale Youth Detention Centre. Read her harrowing story.

In January this year 49 children were incarcerated in Don Dale Youth Detention Centre with up to 90 per cent of those awaiting court dates. A Darwin family has spoken exclusively to the NT News about how their vibrant teenager went from being a talented athlete to a petty thief locked up in the Northern Territory’s defunct prison.

*Names have been changed in this story for legal reasons

Nestled in a corner of the court, 15-year-old Carly* crosses her fingers and lifts her gaze to Judge Sue Oliver.

The look on the teenager’s face appears to be full of hope.

But she whispers to the Youth Justice Officer (YJO) next to her: “I’m tired.”

Her thin frame hangs beneath a baggy oversized jumper while her lawyer - a different one to last time - fights to keep her out of Don Dale Youth Detention Centre.

Under strict instruction, children rarely speak in court, instead their words are translated through lawyers, many of whom have only met their clients just minutes before.

“(Carly) has told me she has a problem with alcohol and would like her bail conditions to include breath tests,” her lawyer said.

“She has also asked to relocate (to an Aunty’s) as she thinks it will help remove her from the social group that she keeps getting into trouble with.”

But before Judge Oliver finishes the second word of her verdict, Carly races towards the side door leading to the holding cells.

She shakes the door handle trying to escape the gaze of court observers; clearly distressed.

A bail application takes Territory Families at least five working days and therefore Carly is remanded to Don Dale, along with up to 90 per cent of the children currently held in the old Berrimah adult prison on the outskirts of Darwin’s CBD.

Just two years ago, Carly was one of the Territory’s brightest young sporting stars, making an impact on the national stage.

Today, her devastated and desperate mum is begging for help as the teenager’s life spirals into addiction, crime and the nightmare of bouncing in and out of the Top End’s notorious Don Dale Youth Detention Centre.

Melissa* said she begged Territory Families for help when her daughter first started becoming addicted to alcohol and marijuana. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

Speaking exclusively to the NT News, Carly’s mum Melissa* says the beginning of the Covid pandemic in 2020 triggered the downward slide for her daughter with restrictions meaning the youngster could not take part in her beloved sport.

“She loved school, she loved her friends, she played representative sport but when Covid hit ... she got in with the wrong crowd,” Melissa said.

“I never thought I would have to call the cops on my own daughter and watch her be sentenced because of something she had done to me.”

Carly’s mental health deteriorated as her addiction to alcohol and gunja (cannabis) increased.

Melissa said she became aware of her daughter’s addiction when her offending “stepped right up” and she moved from petty theft to more serious charges of robbery.

In the beginning, Carly was picked up by police for stealing lollies and soft drink from a local service station but more recently she has bounced in and out of detention for stealing alcohol and destroying property.

In March 2021, Melissa was forced to call the police on her own daughter after she turned up at home drunk.

“She was damaging the car and threatening me,” she said.

As tears roll down her face it is clear it is a heavy guilt only a loving mother could carry.

“I feel like I failed her,” Melissa said.

Things came to a head on Carly’s brother’s birthday in 2021, police knocked on the door.

“We knew it was coming ... but it was still a shock,” Melissa said of the police arrival.

Struggling to hold back tears, Melissa recalled getting her daughter ready to be arrested by cops.

“I told Carly to wake up, wash her face, put some shoes on and then calmly walk into the back of a paddy wagon,” she said.

“You don’t know what is going to happen (to your kid).

“You don’t know if she is going to get to the watch house and get angry about the situation and get scared, you just don’t know.

“I wanted to cry but I couldn’t.

“I had to make her think, and the rest of my kids think that they would be okay - that she was going to be alright.

“I couldn’t show her especially how terrified I was or how angry I was.

B Block is where Carly would spend nine days in complete isolation at Don Dale Youth Detention Centre due to Covid restrictions. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

“I had been begging for a year, asking everyone for help”

Melissa had already written to Territory Families, the Territory Families Minister and approached multiple social services for support.

“No one could help us,” she said.

“And even when she was getting in trouble, there was nothing for her.

“I told police to arrest her and take her the watch house just hoping it might scare her a bit, I didn’t know what else to do.”

After writing to Territory Families, an investigation into Melissa’s entire family was opened, which she said made her youngest children scared they would be taken away.

“But they did nothing for us,” Melissa said.

Currently the Top End only has five Youth Inpatient beds at Royal Darwin Hospital for young people struggling with acute mental health conditions.

Territory Families therapeutic model of care plan, known as the “operational philosophy” for youth detention centres, states up to 75 per cent of young people have one or more psychiatric disorders and most have a neurodevelopmental impairment.

In the past year, Carly has been remanded to Don Dale at least five times.

The facility is a defunct maximum security adult prison that was reopened in 2015 as a Youth Detention Centre.

The Royal Commission in to the Protection and Detention of Children in NT found the facility to be “wholly inappropriate” and not fit for accommodating and rehabilitating children and young people.

From November 2021 to January this year, Carly spent her birthday and Christmas inside Don Dale.

During that time her mental health deteriorated further and Melissa noticed she was hiding her arms under a long sleeved jumper.

“We realised she started to self-harm while in there and at no point did anyone tell us,” says Melissa.

“When we complained they locked her away in isolation which only exacerbated the situation.”

She was finally released to CAAPS, a four-week residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.

“She was doing good there, really good, she successfully completed the program,” Melissa said.

Carly wasn’t able to go back to school but she was doing well under the Back on Track service.

The sentencing program provides alternatives to detention and helps young people gain life skills.

Her and a friend were supporting each other through it and Melissa said Carly was doing well until a few months ago.

“Her friend was in Don Dale and self-harmed,”she said.

The 17-year-old boy was one of four children who self-harmed and attempted to take their own lives while inside Don Dale back in a single weekend during June.

“They were typical teenagers, but people think because they had both been in Don Dale they would be bad for each other,” Melissa said.

“Actually they had a really calming influence on each other and could understand what the other was going through.”

After hearing about her friend’s self-harm, Carly booked a visit to see him.

“We turned up to visit him and were told he wasn’t having visitors, even though he had called us to bring him some coke and stuff,” Melissa said.

“The next day Carly stole a 10-pack of (Jack Daniels) and went back to Don Dale.”

She spent nine days, mostly in complete isolation due to continuous Covid-19 protocols, before being released on bail.

Within the following four weeks two people close to her passed away.

“She has taken that hard, she has taken that really hard,” Melissa said

“He (Carly’s friend) was here (at home) just two weeks before, sitting right here talking about his future.”

Melissa said the friend’s death was lifestreamed via Instagram, which “a lot of the kids were watching” but she was unsure if Carly was one.

“But she took that hard.”

Slowly things deteriorated and Carly, along with three other friends stole more alcohol.

The police picked her up on August 24 and she was remanded to Don Dale the following day.

“She told me the other night she is tired and Donnies (DDYDC) is the only place she can get away from it all - the people she gets into trouble with,” Melissa said.

“She feels Donnies is the only place she can rest and get clean, there is nothing else for her.

“I just hope she knows, how much I love her.”