The principal of an Indigenous school in the Northern Territory has been accused of physically assaulting multiple children.
Yipirinya School principal Gavin Morris has been arrested by NT police and is being held at Alice Springs watch-house, reports The n.
It is understood NT Chief Minister Eva Lawler has been informed of the allegations, which are not sexual in nature, by education minister Mark Monaghan.
According to one staff member at the school, police had been inquiring about an incident two years ago in which kids vandalised a building used for childcare.
‘The kids got in through an unlocked door and smeared paint all over the place,’ the staff member said.
‘They didn’t smash any windows, the door was unlocked and they helped themselves inside and had a field day.’
The ‘shocked’ staff member said they had heard the arrest stemmed from that incident and they ‘couldn’t believe it’.
Mr Morris, who holds a PhD in Aboriginal trauma and lectures at Charles Darwin University, has previously been vocal in the media about the crisis for Aboriginal children in remote communities.
Mr Morris said the school is regularly in contact with local magistrates so bail conditions can be varied for children as young as 12 to participate in after-school programs.
He described female students who didn’t feel safe to go home because ‘they’re worried about their uncles’ so instead roam the streets of Alice Springs at night unsupervised.
Others had spoken to him saying they would rather be in juvenile detention because it was better than their home life, he said.
He spoke of one incident in which teachers called him during the night and said they were in their cars following a school minibus that had been stolen by a group of students for a joy ride.
Footage from the August 2022 incident shows the Yipirinya school bus smashing through the gates and speeding off into the streets of Alice Springs at 9pm with teachers in pursuit.
There were 10 students on board with the driver aged 12 and the oldest in the vehicle 14.
The bus veered through the streets as teachers flashed their headlights and beeped their horns screaming at them to stop.
‘You little sh*** … pull over!’ one teacher screamed in frustration.
At several points the bus swerved onto the wrong side of the road and ran off the road screeching its tyres.
The chase ended when the kids jumped out as the bus was still moving outside an Indigenous camp.
They then jumped fences and ran in opposite directions to escape being caught.
The children returned to school the following day after the bus was written off and no one was charged.
Mr Morris said some of the $300million Anthony Albanese has promised to help support communities in the region be used to build an accommodation facility to help at-risk kids have a stable home life.
He said many children were dealing with family situations where there was an absence of appropriate supervision, food and financial security along with family violence and entrenched alcohol problems.