Alice Springs woman freed for violent beating because of ‘disgusting and inhumane’ prison conditions
A woman in Alice Springs has avoided prison for a brutal assault on a teenager due to inhumane detention conditions, sparking debate on strains in the corrections system.
An Alice Springs woman convicted of a savage assault, in which a 16-year-old girl was beaten with a rock and stripped naked in a park, successfully leveraged the “inhumane” conditions of the Alice Springs and Darwin watchhouses to escape a prison sentence.
Dinela Woods pleaded guilty to beating the victim along with a gang of others, stamping her legs and back, pulling her hair and punching her face in the 3am attack that left the girl in hospital with a collapsed lung after the gang of 11 chased her down the street.
While Woods beat the victim, others ripped her underwear, exposing her vagina and breasts.
NT Justice Judith Kelly branded the attack “a very serious offence” that was “above the mid-range of seriousness”, but still freed Woods because of her upbringing and the conditions she endured during a 21-day stint in custody.
This was despite the maximum penalty for the crime being 14 years in prison.
The brutal attack – captured on CCTV and on mobile phones by other perpetrators – resulted in the victim being hospitalised with a collapsed lung and having to be readmitted following complications.
“You kicked her in the back and you punched her on the left side of her face, and you dragged that girl along Hartley Street by her hair while her breasts and vagina were exposed,” Justice Kelly said.
“The other co-offenders continued to kick and punch her. You and the others continued assaulting the girl by pulling her hair and punching her and kicking her for around about two minutes.”
The attack stopped when police arrived, and Woods was arrested for further alleged violent offending after which she spent 21 days in the Alice Springs watchhouse in January 2025.
The Crown disputed “the truth” of the claims of the conditions in the watch house, but Justice Kelly accepted submissions that there were up to 20 women in two cells, that the toilets would often be blocked, and Woods had no privacy when going to the toilet.
“You were given rice and meat for dinner. Sometimes you got an apple. You asked for an orange but did not get one,” Justice Kelly said.
“You say the cell areas stank. They were disgusting. You could not get away from the smell. You had to have a shower when you were told to have a shower and if you were not quick enough you would miss out.”
Justice Kelly said Woods was sent to Darwin, which was “hot, stressful and smelly”, and that she could not see or talk to her family and could not contact her lawyer.
“Those conditions are disgusting. Not just inhumane but inhuman. Nobody should be put through that and I intend reducing your sentence,” the judge said.
Justice Kelly sentenced Woods to a four-year, two-month term of imprisonment but fully suspended the sentence and set her free. She threatened Woods with having to serve the full sentence if she reoffended.
Woods was ordered to be under the supervision of a parole officer and enter a residential rehabilitation facility, and banned from purchasing, possessing or consuming alcohol.
Justice Kelly said Woods had a “dysfunctional life” growing up, and was forced to look after her siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews from a young age, especially on one occasion when her mother was imprisoned.
“Your parents used to drink and fight and your father regularly went to jail for assaulting your mother, and you say he assaulted her with anything he could get his hands on such as iron, sticks, crowbars and chairs,” Justice Kelly said.
“Sometimes your parents would separate and have other partners then come back together and continue fighting, and you tried to protect your younger sister when this was happening.
Justice Kelly said Woods left school at age 17 after she fell pregnant, but the father of her child left her while she was pregnant to commence a relationship with her 14-year-old cousin. Her next partner was violent towards her.
“This is a very serious offence, I mean, really serious,” Justice Kelly said. “I would put it at above the mid-range of seriousness for this kind of offending. It was committed in company. The victim was a child.”
NT Labor Opposition Leader Dheran Young said the sentencing proved the Territory’s justice system was “under enormous strain” and that the CLP government “has no answers”.
“We’re now seeing violent offenders released back on to the streets simply because there’s nowhere else to put them – this doesn’t make our communities safer,” Mr Young said.
“The CLP government’s failure to implement crime prevention measures while cutting funding to diversion programs keeps people on a cycle of crime, perpetuating these kinds of incidents.”
Acting Chief Minister and Minister for Corrections Gerard Maley said his government was “still dealing with the consequences of (the previous Labor government’s) soft-on-crime policies”, and denied they were cutting diversion programs.
“As a result, offenders continue to be arrested in large numbers, and it’s thanks to the outstanding work of our police officers who are getting them off the streets,” Mr Maley said.
“There is no alternative – police will continue arresting those who break the law, and Corrections will continue expanding capacity to ensure those who are remanded or sentenced have a bed.
“It’s extraordinary to hear these comments from Labor, the very party responsible for eight years of weak policy, inaction and neglect that fuelled the Territory’s crime crisis.
“Labor had every opportunity to strengthen the justice system and keep communities safe – instead, they failed victims and let repeat violent offenders fall through the cracks.”
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