A 22-year-old man who allegedly broke into a Palmerston home last week and attempted to rape a child in the middle of the afternoon has been charged, NT Police said.

The man allegedly entered the Driver home around 2:30pm on Wednesday and came into contact with a child aged between six and 10 years old.

He was disturbed by someone at the home and fled on foot naked, evading police until some time on Friday.

Police did not inform the public about the nature of the incident until late the next morning when they said at a press conference that the man had attempted to sexually assault the child and had fled the scene.

On Monday, police said the man has been charged with aggravated assault and attempted sexual intercourse without consent, as well as unlawful entry. He appeared in Darwin Local Court earlier today.

The 22-year-old was described as 150cm tall, of Aboriginal appearance with a short, stocky build and short shaved hair.

He was arrested on Friday, 55 hours after the incident when he was located by police fully clothed in a phone booth somewhere in Palmerston. Police could not say where the man had been or if anyone had assisted him while he was on the run but said their investigations were continuing.

The family of the child were receiving support from police and other government agencies, police said last week, and that they believe he was not known to the family.

Last year, the NT Independent published a series of articles exposing how alleged rapes and sexual assaults, including of children, had either not been made public soon after they had happened – even in cases when the alleged offender was still at large – or the sexual part of the assault had been hidden, and in one case, the executive had not made public the alleged rape element of a break-in, only describing it as a break-in and robbery.

Police have refused to say why they do not inform the public about serious sexual assault incidents in a timely manner.