Centralian MLA Bill Yan was pelted with rocks during a vicious assault

“Kids with ankle bracelets are prepared to seriously assault somebody who gets in their way”: A Territory MLA was pelted with rocks and sticks by youths in a vicious assault in Alice Springs.

A Territory MLA was pelted with rocks and sticks during a vicious assault in Alice Springs late last month.

Member for Namatjira, Bill Yan, said he was assisting another person after a group of five youths illegally entered the premises.

He said he chased off the youths, the oldest of whom was about 14 and sporting an ankle bracelet, but they later returned armed with rocks and sticks and began attacking people on the premises.

Mr Yan said he did not first raise the incident publicly, in order to protect the identities of the third parties involved, but said it was typical of many incidents in Alice Springs during the 2023-24 summer season.

The incident occurred about 2pm on Sunday, January 21, and ratcheted up when he chased the five youths off the premises.

Country Liberal Party member for Namatjira Bill Yan in his electorate office in Alice Springs. Picture: Jason Walls

“They went over the fence then came back over the fence again, one was armed with a big metal bar,” Mr Yan said.

“I hunted them out again then they came around to the front of the property armed with sticks and rocks and began pelting them at us.”

Mr Yan was able to avoid many of the missiles including fist-sized rocks but nonetheless was struck three times on the lower body.

“I ducked and weaved out of the way of most of them and I considered my injuries fairly minor,” he said.

“I had a fairly big bruise on the inner-thigh of my right leg and it took a couple of weeks to go away and also a cut on the left calf. One of the other people were grazed by a rock.

Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour in Alice Springs on Wednesday. Picture: Liam Mendes / The Australian

“The kids were really very aggressive and confronting. The oldest was 14 and the youngest was 10 or under. I said I’d called the police and they said they didn’t care about the police. That was the kid wearing the ankle bracelet.

“That’s what we’re dealing with in the community. Kids with ankle bracelets are prepared to seriously assault somebody who gets in their way.”

Mr Yan’s comments come as Federal Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour said authorities need to stop “pussyfooting around” on juvenile crime.

She said the decision to raise the age of criminal responsibility was not working and that parents had to be held accountable for their children’s actions.

Ms Scrymgour told The Australian her own home had been broken into while she slept last month and said youth justice laws needed to be changed.

“There has to be a rethink of how we deal (with youth crime),” she said. “A bit of tough love never hurt anyone and I think that’s what needs to come into this equation,” she said.