Sharon Wayiwayi Yunupingu reunited with family after concerns

UPDATE: A Top End family is celebrating after a 22-year-old mum was found in time for Christmas.

Sharon Wayiwayi Yunupingu reunited with family after she went missing on Tuesday night. Picture: Supplied

UPDATE NOON: A TOP End family is celebrating after a 22-year-old mum was found in time for Christmas.

Within minutes of the NT News posting about the missing woman, a shopper at Casurina approached Ms Yunupingu asking if the photo on Facebook was her.

The woman allowed her to use her phone to contact her sister, who had raised the alarm just hours earlier.

Georgina Gellett said her younger sister, Sharon Wayiwayi Yunupingu, was safe after more been missing form 49 hours.

“She is on her way home to us, and will have Christmas here. Everyone deserves a christmas,” she said.

Ms Gellett raised the alarm on Friday morning after last seeing her sister in the early hours of Wednesday.

Sharon Wayiwayi Yunupingu reunited with family after she went missing on Tuesday night. Picture: Supplied

Ms Yunupingu was due to fly to Adelaide with her partner and daughter on Thursday morning, but she never returned to the hotel from a night out.

Family members reported her missing to police after she did not returned home.

The NT News story about the young mother’s dissapearance was shared more than 120 times in an hour, before she was spotted outside the Best&Less at Casuraina Shopping Centre.

Ms Gellett said her family wanted to thank everyone who shared the post and helped bring Ms Yunupingu home.

EARLIER 11AM: DAYS before Christmas a family is appealing for help to find a young mother who they say went missing on Tuesday night.

The 22-year-old mother, Sharon Wayiwayi Yunupingu, has not been heard from for more than 48 hours.

She was due to fly to Adelaide with her partner and daughter on Thursday morning, but she never returned to the hotel from a night out.

Family members reported her missing to police after she had not returned home.

Her older sister, Georgina Gellett said this was completly out of character for her sister, who she described as a devoted mother who was excited for the family trip.

“She is very attached to her daughter. I don’t think she would ever let her fly to another state without her,” Ms Gellett said.

“And she was very excited for that Adelaide trip. Also, she would never miss a flight.”

She said Ms Yunupingu’s daughter was devestated that she was not with her family.

“Her baby needs her, it’s Christmas. It’s hard for them to be apart right now,” Ms Gellett said.

“She just keeps crying out for her mumma.”

Ms Gellett said her sister’s usually active Facebook account had been inactive since Wednesday. 

Ms Gellett said Ms Yunupingu’s last known whereabouts were at a party in an apartment in The Narrows on Wednesday morning.

She said her and her two sisters had been at Palmerston Golf and Country Club till midnight before she then dropped Ms Yunupingu and their other sister, Cleo, at Mindil Beach Casino around 1 am.

At 2am Cleo left Ms Yunupingu at the casino and caught a cab back to Palmerston.

Ms Yunupingu then called her sisters at 10:59am on Wednesday morning to say she was with an Aunty at an apartment in The Narrows, however she has not been heard from or seen since.

“That was the last time we heard from her,” Ms Gellett said.

Ms Yunupingu’s partner, Dave Dior, called Ms Gellett at 7:11pm on Wednesday night concerned as the family was due to fly to Adelaide on a red-eye flight.

Mr Dior filed a missing person’s report with Darwin police on Thursday morning.

He boarded the plane with Ms Yunupingu’s four-year-old daughter.

Forty-eight hours on the family are pleading for the public’s help to reunite Ms Yunupingu with her four-year-old-daughter ahead of Christmas.

NT Police have confirmed they were investigating the matter.

Ms Gellett said she spoke with officers on Friday morning, and other family members had been interviewed.

She said officers had also made enquiries in The Narrows.

Ms Gellett said her sister would be in the Darwin or Palmerston area and called for anyone with information about her sister’s whereabouts to report it.

She said her sister was last seen wearing a Gumatj Corporation singlet, a rainbow yappa skirt and havaiana flip flops.

Ms Yunupingu has black eyes, is relatively tall, long shoulder-length black hair with blonde tips that is usually worn in a ponytail or a bun.

Youth arrested after alleged hit and run

POLICE have arrested a 16-year-old youth who allegedly ran a red light and crashed into a taxi before fleeing the scene with two other occupants on foot.

According to NT Police, officers responded to a crash outside Monte’s Lounge in Alice Springs around 11.30pm Thursday.

The impact caused the taxi to roll onto its side and the driver was trapped inside until fireys attended and extracted him from the vehicle. He was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Southern Watch Commander Vicki Koum said the three people in the vehicle which ran the red light fled the scene.

“The driver of the offending vehicle was later identified as a 16-year-old female youth. Police located and arrested her,” Commander Koum said.

“She’s currently in police custody and there are no serious injuries reported.”

Commander Koum said the outcome could have been a lot worse for all involved.

“Obviously this is a serious crash and had the potential to be a lot more dire,” she said.

“Charges all the considered later (on Friday) morning.”

Police would like to speak to the two other occupants of the vehicle.