Respected Alice Springs elder Benedict Stevens ‘beat partner with Aboriginal tool’
Benedict Stevens, who beat his long-term partner in an alcohol-fuelled assault earlier this year, met the NT Chief Minister last week and performed a Welcome to Country at an AFL game in the week prior to pleading guilty.
A respected Alice Springs traditional owner and director of a community organisation tasked with stamping out domestic and youth violence in the crime-ravaged outback city beat his long-term partner in an alcohol-fuelled assault earlier this year.
Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation chair and Tangentyere Council director Benedict Stevens was handed a six-month suspended sentence in June after pleading guilty to aggravated assault following a violent incident in which he struck his partner in the head with a traditional Aboriginal foraging tool and left a large gash.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro met with Mr Stevens as part of a trip to Alice Springs last week following a huge escalation in violent crime that saw a baby left with a fractured skull after an alleged home invasion and a woman allegedly raped in her sleep.
The Australian understands in the week leading up to pleading guilty, Mr Stevens performed a Welcome to Country for the televised Melbourne v Fremantle AFL game in Alice Springs.
Mr Stevens told The Australian he had changed since the assault, and had learned he “shouldn’t be setting a bad example to the rest of the town”.
“I said to myself as well: ‘What the hell are you doing, Mr Stevens? You’re the TO (traditional owner) of this town, of Alice Springs. Why setting a bad example to them? You should be leading the way, showing respect to women’,” he said.
The Australian has obtained a statement of alleged facts that shows police believed Mr Stevens on April 19 was drinking at a suburban home in Alice Springs with his partner, his partner’s daughter and other family members.
He left the property in the afternoon but returned about 10.30pm. He walked into the house and retrieved a stick. While the statement of alleged facts does not specify the type of stick, The Australian understands it was a black and pink digging stick, traditionally used by Aboriginal women to dig roots, grubs and small animals.
“The defendant approached the victim and swung the wooden stick once at the victim, hitting (her) to the left eyebrow,” the statement reads. “As a result of the assault, the victim suffered a large laceration about 6cm in length and about 5cm wide.”
The daughter then grabbed the digging stick and pushed Mr Stevens away.
Police arrived at the house at 11.30pm and placed Mr Stevens under arrest for aggravated assault. Mr Stevens was issued a domestic violence order, while his partner was taken to Alice Springs hospital.
The federal government committed $2m to a “Women’s Voices” campaign at Tangentyere Council last year, and has committed $1.25m in the past two years alone for family and domestic violence support.
Mr Stevens is one of 14 directors at the Tangentyere Council, where he has been involved in domestic violence diversion programs.
Asked whether it was appropriate for him to be counselling other men on domestic violence, he said: “Yep.”
“Just letting them know you shouldn’t be doing this,” he said.
Mr Stevens said he was “getting away from alcohol” in light of the incident.
“If you’re drinking alcohol, alcohol caused that problem. It’s all about alcohol … if you stay out of it, you’ll have a good life,” he said. “You’ll love being with your partner. It’s all about that alcohol, that’s all.”
In the wake of the assault, Mr Stevens volunteered to stand down as the Alice Springs Hospital’s Aboriginal Liaison Officer, he said. He maintains what happened was “an accident”.
Mr Stevens was present at the meeting with Ms Finocchiaro and the Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation last Thursday, but several sources close to the Chief Minister said she was unaware of his violent history.
Sources familiar with the meeting said there were “high level” talks about the issues in Alice Springs, but no discussions about funding or commitments were made by either of the parties.
Multiple members of the Alice Springs Indigenous community slammed Mr Stevens for remaining on the Lhere Artepe board despite the incident, and have said it was an “open secret in the black community”.
“Why is somebody with serious domestic violence convictions sitting at the top of the food chain when you’ve got the (police) commissioner and Chief Minister talking about domestic violence in the town?” one person said.
Another said: “The Territory can’t have DV offenders as leaders, we’re a laughing stock.”
NT police last Thursday called in extra officers to conduct an around-the-clock patrol of Alice Springs, after a two-month-old baby was flown to an Adelaide hospital following an alleged violent home invasion in which the infant was left with a brain bleed and a fractured skull.
Police Commissioner Michael Murphy last week said there had been a huge escalation in crime – including sexual assault, abduction and theft – since December 3.
This masthead revealed this included a woman who was allegedly raped by a stranger in her own bed, and a 57-year-old man who was threatened by a gang of teenagers with a tomahawk until he handed over a bottle of whisky.
A spokesperson for Ms Finocchiaro would not confirm or deny whether the Chief Minister knew of Mr Stevens’ history, but said she met “with several members of Lhere Artepe while in Alice Springs”.
“The meeting, led by Kirsty Bloomfield, was a proactive meeting where Lhere Artepe shared some solutions that could provide practical outcomes for the people of Alice Springs,” the spokesperson said.
Ms Finocchiaro was initially booked to stay for two nights in Alice Springs, but she cut her trip short and left after one.
NT Opposition Leader Selena Uibo on Monday accused the government of failing to adequately prepare for a “predictable” crime spike.
“It is extremely concerning that there was a shocking spate of violent crime in Katherine over the weekend, with reports of only one police unit in a town of 10,000 people to respond. This simply isn’t good enough,” Ms Uibo said.
“The Chief Minister needs to come out and tell Territorians what police resourcing is in place; not just for Alice Springs, but for Tennant Creek, Katherine, Darwin and everywhere in between over this period.”
More Coverage
Extra $440m top-up for aged care after delays
The Albanese government is committing $440m to boost culturally appropriate aged-care services for First Nations people and enhance the Commonwealth Home Support Program.
Close the Gap flops ‘risk class actions’
Governments could face class actions if they do not start to meet targets to reel in the disparities between mainstream Australia and Aboriginal people, former Indigenous Australians minister Ken Wyatt has warned.