Dinela Woods sentenced after 16-year-old girl stripped naked and dragged through Alice Springs

WARNING Distressing: A 16-year-old girl was chased through the streets of Alice Springs before being stripped naked and beaten in a horrific attack.

Justice Judith Kelly said the teenager was with a group of 50 people when a brawl broke out near the Hartley Street carpark near the Todd Tavern at 3am, Saturday March 16, 2024. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

A teenage girl was stripped naked and dragged through the streets of Alice Springs, with photos of the vile assault shared on social media.

One of the 11 people accused of being involved in the assault, 19-year-old Dinela Woods, has been sentenced in the Supreme Court in Alice Springs.

Justice Judith Kelly said the teenager was with a group of 50 people when a brawl broke out near the Hartley Street carpark close to the Todd Tavern at 3am, Saturday March 16, 2024.

Despite a 16-year-old girl not being involved in the fight, the crowd’s attention then switched to the young teen.

Justice Kelly said the girl was chased down the street by 11 people, with Woods catching her 800m down the road before dragging her to the ground by her hair and stomping on her legs.

Her alleged-offender, a 32-year-old woman, then stripped the teenager of her clothes, pulling down her underwear and taking off her shirt.

Woods continued to kick and punch the naked teenager before dragging her down Hartley St by her hair for two minutes until police arrived.

Photographs of her brutal and humiliating assault were shared on social media.

The 16-year-old was left with a collapsed lung, and later required a chest drain due to the severity of the attack.

Justice Kelly was told that it was the 32-year-old who “talked” Woods into the assault.

She said the young woman’s life had been shaped by violence and dysfunction, often having to shield her sisters, nieces and nephews from abuse.

Northern Territory Supreme Court judge Justice Judith Kelly.

“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.

Despite enjoying school, Woods said she struggled to attend after becoming “the family babysitter” before she turned 13.

“(Your) uncles and aunties who were also drinkers and in domestic violence-fuelled relationships were leaving their kids with you,” she said.

Woods said she therefore faced the choice between her education and leaving the younger children alone in the potentially dangerous home.

The Supreme Court heard she dropped out of school at 17, after falling pregnant with her daughter.

The court heard that while her baby’s father was not violent he left for South Australia, and Woods soon started a relationship with another man who was violent and abusive.

Fearing for her daughter’s safety she sent her child to live with her father, the court heard.

“You obviously were grieving for the loss of your daughter, and you started drinking and that is when you started to get into trouble,” Justice Kelly said.

Justice Kelly said the assault of the 16-year-old was her first ever offence, and she had since been able to access a placement with the Central Australian Aboriginal Alcohol Programs Unit.

Justice Kelly sentenced the teenager to four years and two months for causing serious harm.

However, that was fully suspended to allow her to attend the residential rehabilitation facility.

The 19-year-old will be under strict probation conditions including electronic monitoring, counselling and treatment, a curfew and non-intoxication order.

Originally published as Dinela Woods sentenced after 16-year-old girl stripped naked and dragged through Alice Springs