‘She’s going to die, get off her’: young Indigenous woman viciously assaulted in Katherine

A spate of violence has grown across the Northern Territory over the weekend amid calls for emergency measures for Alice Springs to be widened.

Moment a Young Indigenous woman is viciously assaulted

A wave of violence has expanded across the Northern Territory amid calls for emergency measures for Alice Springs to be widened, with bystanders fearing an Indigenous woman would be killed when she was “pounded in the head with a rock”.

The horrific footage, captured in Katherine, three hours south of Darwin, on Saturday reveals the escalating violence that has led federal Labor MP Marion Scrymgour to declare on Sunday that emergency measures need to be widened across the Territory.

It comes as Alice Springs is in the middle of a serious escalation of the crime crisis that has long gripped the NT, after a two-month-old baby was allegedly assaulted by home-invading teens last week who had collectively been charged with almost 300 other offences and bailed 35 times.

Witnesses help the woman who is almost motionless on the ground. Picture: supplied

Witnesses struggle to break up the assault. Picture: supplied

That assault, and the alleged rape of a healthcare worker by a 22-year-old last weekend, prompted NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro and police commissioner Michael Murphy to race to the ­region in a police aircraft.

On Friday evening, Ms Finnochiaro said she had identified seven “critical areas” on her two-day trip that require federal government attention, including amendments to Centrelink payments so they are made only on takeaway alcohol-free days, compulsory work and training programs with reporting obligations and 100 per cent income management for parents of youth offenders and that royalty payments be made in communities not Alice Springs.

Ms Finnochiaro also announced a “performance audit” of federally funded programs, which for years have been criticised for receiving millions of dollars in commonwealth and NT funding while failing to provide outcomes for young Indigenous Australians.

NT chief minister Lia Finocchiaro on Thursday. Photo: Liam Mendes

On Saturday, terrified onlookers were forced to step in in a dramatic attempt to calm the situation in Katherine where women ganged up on each other, leaving one barely conscious on the ground as police arrived.

Terrified witnesses could be heard on the phone to emergency services saying one of the women “is going to die”.

“There is blood everywhere, she is going to die, they’ve used rocks,” one woman could be heard telling emergency services.

“She’s been pounded in the head with a rock.”

One witness later told The Australian the violence and home invasions in the town had escalated recently, and suggested alcohol consumption and a “lack of things to do” were contributing factors.

“It happens every day, mob fights, glassings, bashings, family feuds, stabbing robberies, it’s starting to get out of hand especially when they are fighting at the shops or on streets, being pushed in front of your car, it’s a debate whether you stop for it or call for help and hope someone shows up before someone gets seriously hurt.”

One of the witnesses told The Australian that when police arrived, officers said they were the only unit on shift for the entire town, which has a population of over 10,000.

Federal NT Labor MP Marion Scrymgour. Picture: Liam Mendes

Ms Scrymgour, the federal MP for Lingiari, who has previously lived and worked in Katherine, has “never seen it this bad”.

“My criticism is the same I said to the previous Labor (NT) government, and I’ll say it to the CLP, we need to stop these knee-jerk ­reactions and come up with sustainable, long-term solutions,” Ms Scrymgour said.

“They need to stop moving the chairs in the Titanic here … Lia’s got to take some responsibility. It’s not good enough for her to put this on the federal government, she’s the government,” she said.

“There is a crisis in the Territory,” she added.

Ms Scrymgour called for accountability for resourcing and funding given by the federal government.

“How do we know that money is making a difference? Is that money being spent in the right areas?” Ms Scrymgour said. “Lia has made this a blackfella only issue; it is a community issue.”