Josiah Binsaris arrested in Humpty Doo siege days after $220,000 Don Dale tear gas payout

A young man who just won a quarter of a million dollar payout for his treatment in Don Dale was sensationally arrested in a three-hour siege at Humpty Doo.

Former Don Dale detainee Josiah Binsaris, 24, won a $220,000 payout following his abuse while a child in the infamous Territory youth prison.

One of the “Don Dale four” was cornered in a three-hour siege on a rural Darwin property, but his lawyer claims the young man’s dramatic arrest was based on shaky evidence.

Eight days after the NT Government was ordered to pay Josiah Binsaris and three other former Don Dale detainees almost $1m in damages, police arrested the now 24 year old in a Humpty Doo home following a lengthy standoff.

NT Police alleged they located and arrested Binsaris on Wednesday after receiving a tip off about a different 34-year-old arrest target, ex-NRL star Joel Romelo.

Binsaris was charged with recklessly endangering serious harm, burglary and property damage for an alleged incident on August 14.

On Friday the young man’s lawyer Nicola MacCarron told the Darwin Local Court the case against Binsaris was weak and pushed for bail given a likely long court battle.

Former Don Dale detainee Josiah Binsaris, 24, won a $220,000 payout following his abuse while a child in the infamous Territory youth prison.

Judge Ben O’Loughlin said Binsaris was “one of the Don Dale four”, with his arrest coming just a week after the Supreme Court awarded him $220,000 in general, aggravated and exemplary damages for his treatment as a child in the infamous youth prison.

Justice Jenny Blokland found capsicum spray was unlawfully used on four Aboriginal teenagers while guards tried to subdue another child in August 2014.

She found Binsaris was exposed to tear gas for up to five and a half minutes in the contaminated cell, before being handcuffed, placed on his stomach on the basketball court and then hosed down.

Justice Blokland called this treatment “callous” and “rough” and the decontamination methods “humiliating”, finding the NT Government’s actions were contrary to the Youth Justice Act.

“This must never be allowed to happen again,” she said.

Josiah Binsaris was a child when he was unlawfully was exposed to tear gas for up to five and a half minutes in the contaminated cell, before being handcuffed, placed on his stomach on the basketball court and then hosed down.

On Friday Ms MacCarron said Binsaris’ name was now “synonymous with that awful incident”.

“Despite what he has endured … he has come leaps and bounds and turned his life around,” she said.

Even with a 22-page criminal history, Ms MacCarron said Binsaris had stayed out of trouble for five years and was recently involved in youth engagement programs at his Alice Springs uncle’s boxing gym.

Former Don Dale detainee Josiah Binsaris, 24, with ex-bikie enforcer Shannon Althouse who works as a mentor for troubled youth at the Arrernte Community Boxing Academy in Alice Springs.

Police alleged that on August 14, Binsaris and two others were involved in a serious home invasion where a sleeping woman was dragged out of bed by her hair by another woman yelling “wake up slut”.

It was alleged she was punched multiple times by the woman, as two men kept watch.

But Ms MacCarron said the Crown case was weak and only based on a “hearsay” statement from the victim’s mother — who was not in the home — claiming she had heard Binsaris was involved.

Mr O’Loughlin adjourned the hearing to Wednesday September 28 to allow for a bail assessment.