A defiant Jeffrey McLaughlin has refused to resign as Mayor of the Barkly Regional Council while police investigate a video that shows him holding an Indigenous child to the ground as another man threatens to kill the boy, blaming the Fyles Government’s “youth crime epidemic” for his actions that have been denounced by federal agencies as “excessive violence”.
Mr McLaughlin issued a statement via social media on Saturday afternoon, after the NT Independent revealed two videos that showed the Mayor sitting on the child who is lying facedown on the grass while being abused.
‘Excessive Violence’ is what we face every day from these young thugs. A shame we have insufficient police and a Government unwilling and fiscally unable to end this crime wave. More people should be prepared to assist. Good on you Mayor.
Good on him.
If the Lord Mayor gets in trouble over his citizens arrest, there will be hell to pay at the ballot box.