A 55-year-old man has been charged with murder over the spearing death of one of two men killed during a violent disturbance on Groote Eylandt last week.
Ten people have been arrested over the brawl on the remote Arnhem Land island, and on Tuesday six men were charged with a variety of offences.
The men, aged between 19 and 55, were expected to appear in court on Wednesday morning. A 55-year-old has been charged with the murder of a 29-year-old male, killed by a spear thrown between two groups of people in a family feud. A 19-year-old was also killed, and a third flown to Darwin with serious injuries.
Police have obtained footage of the disturbance at Angurugu and believe one of the men killed threw the spear that killed the other.
A 15-year-old has also been arrested and charged in the Groote Eylandt community of Alyangula for recklessly endangering serious harm, going armed in public, violent disturbance [and] being armed with an offensive weapon. He has been granted bail.
“Today we are focusing on continued arrest targets in relation to the spear throwing, and we will be continuing to conduct reassurance patrols in both Angurugu and Umbakumba,” Commander Tony Fuller said.
“Police thank the community elders and the wider community for their continued assistance with our investigations and we hope to continue to negotiate peaceful surrenders of the people involved,” he said.
The disturbance is believed to have started with an altercation between two women last Thursday. A male relative intervened and one woman was knocked unconscious, police said on Saturday.
The next day another male relative drove in to find out what had happened but his car was allegedly pelted with rocks, causing him to crash. The situation escalated until “at least 50 to 60” armed people gathered at two ends of a residential street, police said. Police were forced to retreat as numerous spears were thrown.
Officers from the tactical response group and dog squad, five major crimes detectives from Darwin and seven officers from Katherine were sent to the island in the Gulf of Carpentaria, and expect to maintain a presence for some time.
Police have seized or received more than 160 weapons, including spears and woomeras (devices used to propel spears), knives and swords.
