A second man has been charged over the sexual assault of a two-year-old girl in Tennant Creek in February.
The 25-year-old man was arrested by Northern Territory police and charged with sexual intercourse without consent. He was remanded in custody and will appear before a court in July.
A 24-year-old man was charged in the days following the 15 February assault, which occurred in the child’s home. At the time police did not call for witnesses or information about any other alleged perpetrators.
An investigation by officers from the sex crimes unit is ongoing, and the matter remains before the court.
Following the attack strict alcohol measures were imposed in Tennant Creek, extra government workers were deployed, and an investigation was launched into the actions taken by child protection services during the girl’s life.
A report by the NT children’s commissioner found multiple failures on the part of the department, and said the child was at “foreseeable risk of harm and that risk could have been managed or mitigated”.
The mostly redacted report revealed the girl had received “significant and painful” injuries in the attack, after which she tested positive for gonorrhoea and was given post-exposure HIV medication.
The attack “was not the only violence that [she] had been exposed to, and experienced, in her short life”, the report said.
Between 2002 and 2018 welfare services received 52 notifications about the girl and her four siblings, relating to all possible harm categories.
There were also more than 150 police interactions with the child’s parents, one of whom was in jail at the time of the attack.
In the weeks following the attack on the girl, family and community members accused the NT government of ignoring their cries for help over widespread drug and alcohol abuse, child abuse and high rates of suicide.
The girl – who was discharged from an Adelaide hospital following treatment – and her brother have since been removed from the care of their mother.
