Outback nurse who claimed Alice Springs kids were being raped in their homes faces court

The outback nurse who claimed Alice Springs children were being raped and abused in their homes has faced a Northern Territory court on forgery and harassment charges.

Cosmetic surgery specialist Rachel Hale has been charged with using a carriage service to harass, making a false declaration and forgery.

She appeared in Darwin Local Court on Wednesday.

Ms Hale was quizzed by local news outlet The Mango Inquirer as she approached the court and checked into the security screening station at the front of the Darwin courthouse.

She made national headlines last month after claiming she ‘feared for her life’ while filming troubled youth during a ‘terrifying night’ in an Alice Springs hotel.

Ms Hale then spoke out about the sexual abuse of children in remote Indigenous communities, before coming under fire online from critics who pointed out she worked in the cosmetic industry and didn’t visit the town camps she was portraying.

A YouTube commentator claimed she simply ‘squirted Botox’ into people’s faces and others claimed she was a fake.

Ms Hale, 45, hit back, saying she had been working as a full-time cosmetic nurse for the past two years in the Territory, but previously worked for Darwin’s Danila Dilba Aboriginal Health Service in NT Health.

Outback nurse Rachel Hale  who claimed Alice Springs youth were violent on the streets because they were being raped and beaten at home has been charged with three offences

Nurse Rachel Hale arrives at Darwin court on Wednesday to appear on three charges

The outback nurse is charged with making a false declaration and using a carriage service to harass

Nurse Rachel Hale arrives at Darwin court on Wednesday to appear on three charges of forgery, making a false declaration and using a carriage service to harass, just weeks after she filmed violent youths from her Alice Springs hotel  

Outback nurse Rachel Hale was filmed walking into Darwin courthouse to face charges just weeks after she claimed Alice springs youth were raped in their homes and she was then attacked online by trolls

Outback nurse Rachel Hale was filmed walking into Darwin courthouse to face charges just weeks after she claimed Alice springs youth were raped in their homes and she was then attacked online by trolls

She said she had also worked in an alcohol and rehab centre and a jail, and did cosmetic work on the side.

It is unclear whether her charges listed in Darwin Local Court have any connection with Ms Hale’s recent online battle with trolls which followed her posting numerous videos of teenagers punching and spitting on patrons at Alice Springs’ Diplomat Hotel.

The nurse was staying in a hotel in Alice when dozens of young people caused chaos downstairs during a crime crisis that has gripped the the remote Northern Territory town over the past few months.

She claimed gangs of youths roamed the streets looking for trouble to escape violent home lives where they are raped and beaten. 

Much of the violence was blamed on the lifting of alcohol bans in Aboriginal communities outside of Alice Springs in July last year.

The bans have since been reinstated after a national outcry.

Ms Hale claimed the main reason kids were on the street was because of their deplorable home lives and vicious sexual assaults in the communities which she had witnessed during  14 years of nursing in the NT.

‘Some of these houses have 10-15 people sleeping on the floor of a three-bedroom house. There’s no personal hygiene, there’s lice, scabies, fungal rashes, maggots in wounds, perforated ear drums – the level of care is shocking,’ she said.

It is unclear whether the charges against Rachel Hale (above) in Darwin Local Court have any connection with Ms Hale's recent online battle with trolls which followed her posting numerous videos of Alice Springs teenagers

It is unclear whether the charges against Rachel Hale (above) in Darwin Local Court have any connection with Ms Hale’s recent online battle with trolls which followed her posting numerous videos of Alice Springs teenagers

Rachel hale (above entering Darwin courthouse on Wednesday) was attacked online by people questioning how a cosmetic nurse would know anything about violence in outback communities

Rachel hale (above entering Darwin courthouse on Wednesday) was attacked online by people questioning how a cosmetic nurse would know anything about violence in outback communities

‘That’s why the kids are not at home, along with the vicious sexual assaults. The parents, the uncles, the cousins are all drinking and the kids are being preyed upon.’

But after sharing anecdotes about some of the horrific abuse, Ms Hale was attacked herself for giving an ‘unsubstantiated’ theory amid claims she wasn’t a real nurse.

‘Can anyone confirm if Rachel Hale has ever worked as a nurse (no not a cosmetic nurse) in Alice Springs?’ one person questioned on Facebook.

‘I can’t help but ask myself the question what the f**k would Rachel Hale know about Aboriginal people in Alice Springs?’ Ton Tanuki asked on a lengthy YouTube clip attacking her.

In response, Ms Hale said she had received countless ‘disgusting’ and threatening messages.

‘Everyone started calling me and messaging me, saying I’m a fake and I’ve never witnessed anything,’ she said.

‘People are saying I’m just trying to promote my own profile. What am I gaining out of this? I knew I’d get blowback, I just didn’t think it would be this severe.’ 

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