Senior official arrested over alleged student assaults

A senior employee at a renowned independent Northern Territory school for Indigenous children has been arrested over alleged historical assaults on multiple students. Northern Territory Police arrested the 46-year-old man on Thursday over historical aggravated assaults at the Yipirinya School in Alice Springs. It is alleged the man assaulted six children, aged between eight and 13 years, at the school on multiple separate occasions in 2023. Police received reports of the alleged historical physical assaults on the school students on June 20. An NT government spokesman confirmed a "senior employee of an Alice Springs independent school has been arrested for the alleged offences of aggravated assault of students". "It would be inappropriate to comment further as an investigation is ongoing," he said. The Department of Education was aware of the matter concerning the independent non-government Yipirinya School but declined to comment as the matter was being investigated, a spokeswoman said. The community-run Yipirinya School specialises in educating Indigenous primary and secondary students who speak a language other than English and is governed by an Aboriginal School Council. A spokesman for the Yiprinya School declined to comment.