Collingwood, Brisbane Lions rivalry the cause of rolling gang violence between Bad Boyz, Jovis, Warriors

Rolling gang violence tearing apart the fabric of the normally peaceful Daly River/Nauiyu community appears to have been sparked by a very different kind of contest, 3700km away.

Rolling gang violence tearing apart the fabric of the normally peaceful Daly River/Nauiyu community appears to have been sparked by a very different kind of contest, 3700km away.

Locals who wanted to remain anonymous out of fear for their safety say the internecine warfare between gangs calling themselves the Bad Boyz and the Warriors first kicked off on Grand Final day last year.

“We’re all Collingwood supporters and the other fellas, they barrack for Brisbane, they go for Brisbane Lions, so they didn’t like that their team got beaten,” one man told the NT News.

He said when members of the his family started driving around the community with black and white flags flying in celebration, it sparked a conflict that led directly to the violence that has seen dozens of residents forced from their homes.

“That pretty much is where it flared up from, the fella, a Brisbane Lions supporter didn’t like his team losing, so he threw a stubby at the front of the car,” he said.

“Within 10 seconds of that everything broke loose, you had a lady trying to open the driver’s side door, trying to shiv a fella with a screwdriver.

Residents in Nauiyu/Daly River have been forced to sleep in tents or on mattresses outside after gang violence forced them from their homes. Picture: Jason Wals

“‘My team lost, so I’m going to try to f---in’ hurt you’ – that’s all it was.”

Other locals say the death of an elderly man on the Bad Boyz side then sparked further animosity, before another tragic death of a young woman on the Warriors side drew “disgusting” comments on social media from members of the Bad Boyz.

The NT News has seen the posts but has chosen not to repeat the words used.

Locals say it was that development which drew the Jovi Boys from nearby Peppimenarti into the conflict – due to their family ties to the Warriors – which was followed by a number of arrests earlier this month.

From the driveway of a house now home to up to 20 people displaced from their own homes by gang violence, a group of women says it’s all they’ve got left after initially camping out in the bush for about a month to escape the violence.

One says they had been “living under the rain covering ourselves with a tarpaulin” while relying on good Samaritans to bring them food.

Members of the Bad Boyz gang from Nauiyu/Daly River pose in photos posted online.

“A couple of young boys who call themselves Bad Boyz ran into my home, grab out bedding, clothing, took them out on the flat, took the aircon out of the board and just chucked it on the flat and just lit the clothes and bedding on fire,” she said.

“We had a couple of old people with us at that time and kids with us and we were surrounded by the Bad Boyz, they were all intoxicated, they surrounded the house started smashing it with axe, steel bar.

“We had a couple of our boys, Warriors boys, but they were just like aged probably 14, 15 and (the Bad Boyz) had older boys, grown men.”

She said the group now felt stranded and unable to access local services, with their younger children only recently returning to school.

“One of the gang members, the Bad Bitchez or the Bad Boyz, used to be there at the pub when we used to go there to buy food, they used to call to them ’Oh come quick they’re here at the pub’,” she said.

“They make us look like we’re the bad ones but we’re not.”