Northern Territory police allegedly shot an Aboriginal man four times when officers fired six rounds at him as he tried to throw a spear at officers in March.

May 3, 2022

Northern Territory police have been accused of acting “inhumanely” when officers allegedly shot an Indigenous man armed with a spear four times.

Senior police have previously declined to say how many rounds hit Peter Skeen when officers fired six shots at him near Darwin on March 8.

The 20-year-old is accused of confronting police with a traditional weapon in the suburb of Gray in Palmerston, about 20km south of Darwin.

He remains in hospital, with relatives saying “he’s not doing too well” and his recovery could take another 12 months.

“He’s going through a lot of pain, physically and mentally,” his uncle, Ranald Link, told reporters on Tuesday.

Mr Link said his nephew was shot once in the neck and abdomen and twice in the chest, with one shot severing a main artery.

“They can’t do MRI scans because there is shrapnel still in his body,” he said.

“It’s been a bit of a fall back to him advancing in his health.”

Police have charged Skeen with going armed in public, assaulting police and conduct endangering life.

Mr Link said his nephew would fight the charges.

“It’s inhumane what happened,” he said.

“Five metres away from a person and shooting six times.”

Police were responding to a report of a domestic violence incident when Skeen allegedly confronted them.

Assistant Commissioner Michael White has previously said the officers involved repeatedly warned the man to drop the spear before he was shot.

He said the officers were in danger and decided to use lethal force. The other officer fired a Taser.

Skeen’s case was briefly mentioned in the NT Local Court in Darwin on Tuesday before being adjourned to June 22.

His lawyer Clancy Dane raised concerns over the Crown’s delay providing a copy of the brief of evidence against Skeen.

“All we have received is a single police officer’s statement, which was not a statement of either of the police directly involved in the shooting,” he said outside court.

“One would expect in a matter like this is for me to have received statements from the police officers directly involved and their body-worn video.

“I’d really like to watch their body-worn video.”

The court ordered the prosecution to provide all the police evidence to Mr Dane within seven days.

The shooting occurred three days before NT Constable Zachary Rolfe was acquitted at trial of murdering Aboriginal teenager Kumanjayi Walker in 2019.

Const Rolfe shot the 19-year-old three times during a failed arrest attempt.