CANBERRA, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The acting leader of Australia's Northern Territory (NT) held a crisis meeting with police on Wednesday over a crime spike in a regional community.
In a one-week period in the town of Tennant Creek, 500 kilometers north of Alice Springs, a man was killed in a fatal assault and an indigenous child was allegedly sexually assaulted.
In a 12-hour period on the night of the deadly assault, police in the community received twice as many emergency calls as usual. Authorities believe that alcohol was a major factor in the spike.
Nicole Manison, Acting Chief Minister of the NT, met with NT Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw and Minister for Territory Families Dale Wakefield on Wednesday morning to discuss solutions to the crime wave.
The two-year-old victim of the sexual assault remained in an induced coma at Adeliade's Women's and Children's Hospital on Wednesday.
A man in his early 20s faced a Tennant Creek court on Tuesday where he was charged with sexual intercourse without consent.
So severe was the incident that it prompted an emergency meeting of Aboriginal leaders on Tuesday to work through issues plaguing the town.
In a statement issued before he departed on an official visit to the U.S., NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner described the act as a "tragic, awful event."
"Repeated trauma has scarred our communities for decades. Too many Territorians have lived this nightmare for too long," he said.
"Having a happy, healthy home should not be an aspiration, it should be a God given right.
"We must do more, we will do more."
Territory Families representatives also travelled to Tennant Creek on Wednesday to speak with the community about the alleged assault.
NT authorities said there was a party involving alcohol at the residence that the incident took place earlier on the same night.
It has been reported that a person died at the same house only weeks earlier.
