Palmerston’s Peter Skeen found guilty of being armed in public and assault after police shooting

A Territory teenager who was shot three times by cops has been found guilty for being armed in public and assaulting police. See why he said he has become a ‘prisoner in his own body’.

A Territory judge has not criticised the actions of a junior cop who fired on an Aboriginal teenager six times near a children’s playground, stating the officer’s actions were “commendable”.

More than two years after a police shooting near a Palmerston suburban park, Darwin Local Court Judge Ben O’Loughlin found Peter Skeen guilty of going armed in public and unlawfully assaulting two NT Police officers.

Skeen had pleaded not guilty on all counts, but on Friday Mr O’Loughlin sentenced the now 22-year-old to 14-months in prison fully suspended, with a 12-month supervision order.

The Darwin judge said then 19-year-old was spotted acting angry, yelling abuse and holding a snapped gidgee spear, a three-pronged fishing spear, near Ascension Park, Gray on March 8, 2022.

Two police officers, Senior Constable Maree Scott and Constable Shannon Chmielewiski, were attending an unrelated domestic violence incident when they were alerted to the armed teenager.

Mr O’Loughlin said that Skeen was 20m from Ms Scott when he first “raised the spear as if he was going to throw it”.

Palmerston teenager Peter Skeen was shot at six times by NT Police during an incident at Gray on March 8, 2022. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

He described it as a “terrifying scene” as both officers repeatedly called on Skeen to “drop the spear” as the teenager started to approach, before running at Mr Chmielewiski and then appeared to move “as if preparing to throw the spear”. .

In a split second the Senior Constable chose a ‘non lethal’ weapon, her taser, while the more junior officer pulled out his Glock firearm and fired six times in three seconds.

The 19-year-old had his back to the police and was running away when the sixth shot hit him, one of three bullets that struck him in the chest, arm and left flank.

Mr O’Loughlin stated that the officers “reacted in the way they are trained to react”.

“I can find no reason whatsoever to criticise the actions of the two officers,” he said.

“This was an unexpected, potentially life-threatening moment and they both acted with restraint and only used force because it was truly necessary.”

“Their actions on that day were commendable.”

Peter Skeen’s lawyer Clancy Dane. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

Skeen’s lawyer Clancy Dane had told the court that the “erratic behaviour” suggested the 19-year-old was having a mental health crisis, arguing that “he was not in a position to rationally process … no rational person would behave that way”.

However, O’Loughlin said he did not find that Mr Dane proved the teenager was suffering from a mental impairment to the point he was not criminally liable.

“He was certainly angry and wild that day … he may well have consumed drugs, may well have been acting erratically and may even have been suicidal,” Mr O’Loughlin said.

“But I do not accept the defence argument that the defendant was having a ‘mental health crisis’ but not a mental illness, I find they are one and the same.”

The now 22-year-old was not able to attend the sentencing hearing in person, with Mr Dane telling the court that Skeen was recently involuntarily admitted for mental health treatment and was staying with family in Brisbane.

“No punishment that this court could impose on Mr Skeen that is going to punish him more than he’s already suffered,” Mr Dane said.

The 19-year-old spent 13 days in a coma, with the bullets and shrapnel lacerating his heart, stomach and spleen, causing both of his lungs to collapse alongside other permanent internal injuries.

Palmerston teenager Peter Skeen was shot at six times by NT Police during an incident at Gray on March 8, 2022. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Mr Dane said for up to ten minutes Skeen’s heart stopped beating resulting in a hypoxic brain injury, while further complications caused muscle breakdown in his limbs.

The court heard that for the rest of his life, the young Territorian will suffer from chronic pain and will be reliant on mobility aids.

“Mr Skeen now considers himself a prisoner in his own body, and that’s a lifelong situation,” Mr Dane said.

Prosecution Damian Jones said the crown was not seeking a term of actual imprisonment, instead calling for a fully suspended sentence to act as a “sword of Damocles” over the head of the now wheelchair-reliant young man.

Mr O’Loughlin acknowledged that there was no recorded offending in the last two years, adding that the “usual intensive supervision that we might order for a young wild fella are not necessary here”.

“The injuries are a daily reminder for him. He’s got the message. And physically he could not commit offences like this again.”