A new wave of violence has struck lawless Alice Springs as a teenager is set upon by axe-wielding youths in a horrific broad daylight attack.
Alice Springs Hospital worker Namfon Fon, who moved to the town from Thailand to be with her partner, posted a warning on Facebook following the assault of her son near Sammy’s Pizza on Monday afternoon.
The incident is just the latest in a string of violent attacks in the Outback town, which is plagued by gangs of youths trashing businesses and robbing homes.
Ms Fon’s 16-year-old son was walking in the Alice suburb of Braitling when three young persons attacked him.
‘They have an axe and hit him multiple times in his face, stomach, leg and other parts of his body,’ she said.
Alice Springs police have confirmed to Daily Mail Australia a teenage boy who allegedly struck Ms Fon’s son with ‘an edged weapon’ has since been arrested.
Namfon Fon’s son, 16, was set upon by three youths armed with an axe who struck him on his ‘face, stomach, leg and other parts of his body’
Alice Springs mum Ms Fon has warned about the dangers of her town after her son was the victim of an axe attack in broad daylight near a popular pizza shop
Disturbing video of the assault obtained by Daily Mail Australia shows three young males – one wielding an axe or hatchet – laying into the teenager, hitting and kicking him as he cowers in a park.
Video of the attack, which is believed to have taken place in Rhonda Diano Oval, shows two males in black T-shirts and an axe-wielder grunting as they beat the 16-year-old.
Then a man out of view yells at them to stop, saying ‘eh, eh, eh! What the f*** do you think you’re doing?
‘F*** off. Do you think you’re tough ganging up on him? Watch out for yourself. All of you. I know your names.
‘Get out. There was three of you on him. Do you want me to ring the cops?’
Ms Fon said ‘luckily’ her son did not appear to have been cut by the axe’s blade, but that he ended up in hospital after police and paramedics arrived.
She also thanked locals who stopped to help her son as he recovered from the attack in a local park.
Ms Fon said it was ‘very sad to end up in ED after you get attacked by your own community’.
‘This town has become a nightmare for everybody,’ she said. ‘Stay safe.’
Northern Territory Police told Daily Mail Australia the teenage male carrying the axe had ‘allegedly assaulted (Ms Fon’s son) with an edged weapon’ and and the boy had since been released from hospital.
The alleged teen offender ‘was later arrested and is expected to be dealt with under the provisions of the Youth Justice Act,’
Despite violence and crime being part of Alice Springs life, the situation has worsened in the ten months since the Northern Territory Government lifted alcohol restrictions.
A campaign by a local baker and activist Darren Clarke gained national headlines this week, forcing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to make a flying visit and impose partial alcohol bans.
Ms Fon works at Alice Springs Hospital since moving from Thailand to the town (above, violence filmed there last weekend) where where her teenage son was taken to emergency after he was attacked on an afternoon stroll
The attack on Ms Fon’s son took place in the same suburb where a 17-year-old allegedly carried out a vicious home invasion on a woman, 74, whose wrist was broken during the robbery.
Police have charged him and another male, 20, for a separate home invasion of a 75-year-old woman who was robbed while being threatened with a blunt weapon.
Alice Springs Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Rob Kent said it was ‘absolutely disgusting that two vulnerable members of our community have been preyed upon in this manner’.
A child care centre was also smashed up, forcing it to close down while forensic police attended the crime scene and tradespeople repaired the damage.
This comes a day after video emerged of a town pub battlefront on one of Alice Springs’s main streets last Saturday night with locals under siege by belligerent teenagers and adults.
The videos were filmed by a local nurse from her balcony of the Diplomat Hotel on Gregory Terrace.
Rachel Hale, who shot the videos from her balcony above the pub, said it was one of the most frightening nights of her life.
‘Kids taunting adults and spitting on ‘white c**ts’, stealing from cars out the front, very young children on the streets, disgusting violence, pack hunting and the level of hate displayed towards people in the firing line will haunt me,’ she said.
‘Police struggle to apprehend anyone – they run as soon as they see them. I feel sick to my stomach seeing this and also having to stay here.
‘Everything has closed, police have left, but the kids remain. Not much sleep – one of the most frightening nights of my life. It went on all night long.’
The footage showed an Aboriginal girl hurling abuse through the pub fence at patrons as they sat drinking in a pub beer garden.
‘You ugly, I’m prettier than you with my black skin, you white b***h,’ she yelled before taunting other patrons and calling herself an ‘African queen’.
Another teenage female spat through the fence on to a pub patron, yelling at the young man ‘You’re a white dog, you are, rooff rooff rooff’.
During a brief visit to the town last week, Mr Albanese announced new alcohol restrictions and promised $48.8 million over two years for programs to address the crime problem.
A young woman screams through the fence of the of the Diplomat Hotel in Alice Springs which has become a battlefront between drinkers and young people outside who are not permitted entry
Measures implemented included a ban on takeaway alcohol sales on Monday and Tuesday as well as limits on bottle shop opening hours.
‘FIFO PM’ is torn to shreds for scoffing ice cream and ‘chugging beers’ for THREE DAYS instead of helping Alice Springs – after he flew into crime-ridden town for just four hours: ‘Kick in the guts’
By David Southwell
Anthony Albanese has been slammed for spending three days ‘chugging beers’ at the Australian Open with his partner Jodie – after staying just four hours in the lawless Outback town of Alice Springs.
The Prime Minister spent three nights in Melbourne last week – attending the tennis on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, to watch a semi-final, the women’s final and the men’s final.
Mr Albanese flew in to Melbourne after staying just half a day in Alice Springs, in the red centre of the Northern Territory, last Tuesday – leading to him being slammed as the ‘FIFO (fly in, fly out) PM’.
The town has been grappling with a devastating youth crime wave since alcohol bans in the city lapsed in July.
Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who served as the former deputy mayor of Alice Springs, slammed the prime minister on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese scoffing an ice cream at the tennis with his partner Jodie Haydon and Virgin CEO Jayne Hrdlicka at the men’s singles final on Sunday
The PM was blasted for ‘chugging beers’ by Senator Jacinta Price. Mr Albanese at the tennis semi-finals on Friday
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said seeing the PM at the tennis was a ‘kick in the guts’ to Northern Territory locals
‘It’s an insult and a kick in the guts for the people of Alice Springs to see the PM spending more time relaxing and chugging back beers at the tennis than what he did on the ground in Alice Springs,’ Senator Price told reporters.
‘The threats and mayhem haven’t stopped.
‘We locals are subject to no longer being able to shop after 7pm as our shopping centres and town goes into lockdown.’
Warren Mundine, a former Labor Party national president and Liberal candidate, said he felt ‘really, really sick’ about seeing Mr Albanese at the tennis.
‘You’ve got all these people who are being abused… assaulted in the Northern Territory, and he (Albanese) spent three days lounging around the tennis courts, drinking beer and having a great time with mates,’ he said.
Both Senator Price and Mr Mundine called on the PM and Linda Burney, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, to return to Alice Springs.
Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley said Mr Albanese spending ‘just four hours’ in Alice Springs but days at the tennis ‘didn’t pass the pub test’.
‘You don’t get to be a part-time prime minister,’ she said.
Shocking video from the troubled remote Northern Territory town shows a pub on one of the main streets under siege by belligerent teenagers on Saturday night.
The young man at first only tried to block the incoming blows and push the attacker away, but it escalated to a brawl after the teenager challenged him to a fight and kept hitting him
A guest at the pub who filmed the disturbing scenes described it as the ‘most terrifying night of my life’.
The footage showed an Aboriginal girl hurling abuse through a fence at patrons before customers sitting in the pub beer garden started to fight with locals.
The video comes as Twitter users took aim at the prime minister after he was photographed sitting next to former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello at the Australian Open women’s final on Saturday night in Melbourne.
Mr Albanese and Mr Costello looked very relaxed in each other’s company as they watched Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka win her first major against Elena Rybakina.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured right) and former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello were spotted sitting together at the Australian Open on Saturday night
Twitter users were anything but relaxed about the situation.
‘Reports of Albo cosying up to Peter Costello at the tennis makes me really uncomfortable,’ one wrote.
‘Look I’m cracking the sh**s because he was sitting next to Peter Costello,’ another said candidly.
‘You know what? I’m unsurprised. It makes me feel more than uncomfortable; it makes me feel nauseous,’ said another.
‘Your skin would crawl,’ another wrote.
Quite a few harked back to an old quote of Mr Albanese’s that he likes ‘fighting Tories (conservatives). That’s what I do’.
‘Albo sitting with Peter Costello at the tennis. This is what fighting Tories looks like, I guess?’ one Twitter user sarcastically noted.
The Prime Minister showed himself to be a dedicated tennis fan as he attended the Australian Open for three nights including Sunday night’s final where he pictured between partner Jodie Haydon (left) and Tennis Australia Chair Jayne Hrdlicka
Mr Costello was back at the tennis on Sunday night but this time sitting with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton
A few were quick to read political significance into the seating arrangement.
‘More proof Labor has become LNP lite… Also why was Albo sitting next to Peter Costello at the Women’s tennis final?’ one wrote.
Some tried to rationalise Mr Albanese’s actions.
‘My mother always said “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer” I like to think this is what he is doing,’ wrote one Twitter user.
Mr Albanese enjoys a beer with Ms Hrdlicka (middle) while at the Australia Open on Friday night for the men’s semi-final
A number of people noted that Mr Costello, who was treasurer during the Howard government from 1996 to 2007, still holds important positions such as chair of Australian Open broadcaster Nine and also the publicly owned Future Fund.
Mr Albanese, who is a keen social tennis player, was back at the Australian Open on Sunday night for the men’s final along with his partner Jodie Haydon.
Mr Costello was back as well but this time he sat next to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, while Mr Albanese was flanked by Tennis Australia Chair and Virgin CEO Jayne Hrdlicka.
It was the third night that Mr Albanese had taken his place in the stands of Rod Laver as he attended Friday night as well for the men’s semi-final between American Tommy Paul and eventual tournament winner Novak Djokovic.
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