NT DPP confirms it will not appeal sentence for Alice Springs baby assault

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A man who assaulted a nine-week-old baby during a home invasion in Alice Springs last year has been sentenced to a two-year community corrections order. The NT Director of Public Prosecutions has now confirmed it will not appeal the decision. NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro says the sentence is disappointing for the wider community.

Transcript

00:00It was the assault that shocked the Territory.

00:06It was an absolutely gut-wrenching, horrific incident.

00:09A nine-week-old baby and her mother hit with a fridge handle during a home invasion in Alice Springs last December.

00:16The baby left with a fractured skull.

00:19The 18-year-old offender, who can't be named for legal reasons,

00:23was last month handed a two-year intensive community corrections order to be served in Alice Springs, not in prison.

00:30I think everyone collectively was disappointed with the outcome.

00:34The NT's Director of Public Prosecutions now confirming it won't appeal the decision,

00:40meaning the non-custodial sentence will stand, angering some on the streets of Alice.

00:46Do you think that is an appropriate sentence?

00:48No, that's unfair. We were supposed to be sent to jail.

00:50We should probably go to prison. Yeah, that's it.

00:55Somebody that does that to a baby deserves at least ten years in prison

01:00so they can learn from their mistakes, because that baby's never going to be the same again.

01:05In sentencing the Aliawarra man, who was 17 at the time of the incident,

01:10Justice Sonya Brownhill said the offending would have been terrifying and traumatising for the victims.

01:17She also said he had shown remorse and a willingness to make amends.

01:22You want to change your life, grow up strong and be a good role model and teach others the right way.

01:28She also took his young age and nine months already served in detention into account.

01:34Last month, the DPP moved to appeal another decision by Justice Brownhill

01:39of hit-and-run driver Jake Danby, who ran down two pedestrians in broad daylight

01:44and also avoided a prison term.

01:47The ABC has confirmed that the family involved in this harrowing incident

01:51no longer lives in the house in Larrapinta where it occurred.

01:54They've now left Alice Springs altogether.

01:59the ABC's this far and the only one was left.

02:00It has no danger in the life.

02:01It has no danger of seeing this mistake.

02:02It was not a good place for her.

02:03The B�al.

02:04The entrance to Aliawarra man, who was on the day.

02:05The B�al.

02:07There was not a good place for them, to be in the early days,

02:08I was not a good place in the hospital.

02:09Its situation was a really tough place.

02:11It has no danger in different place.

02:12It has no danger in a place since the sea.

02:14The other place could have been walking from the city.

02:15It was a really tough place.

02:16It has no more room around, which in the city,

02:17There is no danger of being a danger.

02:19The actual depressive as any other people.

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