Out-of-control’ Jovi Boys turning Darwin suburb into ‘a war zone’

Violence on the streets of Darwin has escalated, as gang members armed with makeshift weapons cause mayhem, with video showing children as young as three hiding from the clashes.

Gang violence in the Darwin suburb of Palmerston that has been described as ‘urban warfare’.

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A criminal gang dubbed the Jovi Boys has been terrorising a residential block in Darwin, fighting with machetes, shovels and metal stakes as children shelter from the late-night battles.

Violence on the streets of Darwin has escalated in recent weeks, with gang members – often from out of town – rioting with makeshift weapons and wielding bottles in the suburb of Palmerston.

Video obtained by The Weekend Australian shows children as young as three hiding behind cars before fleeing as youths threaten residents.

The Jovi Boys, from the remote community of Daly River, whom The Australian has previously reported on, is believed to be behind the confrontations.

The gang gained notoriety following a terrifying incident in Daly River involving shotgun blasts, people being beaten, shot with arrows and homes torched.

Residents fear the riots will continue unless there is a major intervention by police, pointing to similar outbreaks of violence in Alice Springs earlier this year involving more than 100 people, which police were unable to control due to poor resourcing.

One resident, a former able seaman in the Royal Australian Navy, has called police multiple times in the last few weeks to report incidents, including one in which a man hurled a piece of concrete at him. Fighting and domestic violence disturbances have been “going on for years”, he said, but escalated to “riot-like” levels on Tuesday when the gang ­arrived in the area.

Kids trapped amid chaos

The resident, who was too afraid to be identified, suggested Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe should visit the Northern Territory to help solve issues impacting Indigenous Australians.

“That’s what she should be doing, not stirring up more ­trouble and empowering them to carry on like that,” he said.

“This gang has turned up here, obviously unannounced, in front of the local Indigenous people that live in the unit complex. There was machetes, glass bottles, sticks, you name it, a lot of punching and scuffling.

“The locals in the unit complex went into defensive mode and basically chucked rubbish, bins and rubbish all over the road to block the road in two spots, and then started running around the whole unit complex, looking for any of these guys.

“It was like a war zone, a re-enactment of a mini war, urban warfare, except they were just in shorts and bare-chested and barefoot and running around.”

The man said he saw one woman being kicked in the head, in an apparent act of domestic ­violence. “It was just chaos. I wasn’t overly concerned that they were going to come and get us, but my kids were and my wife were,” he said.

Police took between 35 to 40 minutes to arrive, he said, despite a police station being 3km away.

Violence in Darwin

“The local people in that particular community and that unit complex then basically went on the defensive, a bit like vigilante security, patrolling around the unit complex,” he said. “That went on for hours afterwards. I’m concerned that it’s ­expanding now. That the outlying Aboriginal communities and gangs out there, these Jovi Boys, are now coming brazenly into Darwin and conducting this sort of stuff.”

A spokesman for NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said her government was delivering on its “reducing crime” agenda.

Gang violence in the Darwin suburb of Palmerston that has been described as ‘urban warfare’.

“As promised before and after the August election, new legislation in five key areas have been passed to address the crime crisis,” the spokesman said.

“The laws which passed through parliament include stronger bail laws, police having more power to scan for edged weapons, lowering the age of criminal responsibility, and new ram raid, posting and boasting, and nuisance public drinking laws.”

The spokesman said the first two weeks of the parliamentary sitting with a new government was a “turning point” for Territorians. “We make no apologies for our swift and decisive action. The crime crisis needs a crisis ­response,” the spokesman said.

“People who do the wrong thing will face consequences, and stronger laws will act as a ­deterrent.”