The alleged perpetrators involved in the death of a man killed by a crossbow in Peppimenarti last week did not have existing restraining orders served on them, according to correspondence with the Police Minister from a lawyer acting on behalf of the family of the dead man.

A lawyer acting on behalf of a Peppimenarti family has since written to Police Minister Kate Worden asking her to help get NT Police to serve personal violence restraining order applications against members of the community.

Last Tuesday, a 36-year-old died after he was taken to the Peppimenarti Health Clinic with an arrow wound amid increasing violence in the remote community.

On Thursday, police charged an 18-year-old man with manslaughter for allegedly firing the arrow, and the following day charged a 22-year-old man with recklessly endangering life.

However, the lack of action before the fatal incident has left some claiming police and the government had ignored repeated warnings about escalating tensions in the community.

The ABC reported last week that Northern Land Council chair Samuel Bush-Blanasi said there had been “problems” building in the community for nearly a year but that the police and government took no action to address community concerns.

“I’ve sent photos, I’ve sent everything to the police department. Nothing ever happened out of it. And you can’t point the finger at NLC because that’s not our core business of law and order,” he said.

“We understand that Peppi is in a remote area and there’s no police attendant [locally]. But if there was a police attendant, none of this stuff would have happened.

“I told [police] they needed to get to the bottom of this, because if [they didn’t, we would] end up having a death out of this, and then fair enough it happened.”

Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker told ABC Radio last week that for 15 years Peppimenarti had been a temporary police station, and police could take an hour to get there from Wadeye.

“We’ve brought bureaucrats and ministers from across government, federal government, through that facility to show them that that is not a policing model that can sustain,” he said. “It’s something we’ve been continually arguing with but unfortunately it keeps hitting the cutting room floor.”

Lawyer Matthew Hubber wrote to Kate Worden last Wednesday – a day after the death – saying he had not had any response to his August 24 email, and wanted to meet with her as soon as possible because the violence in Peppimenarti was getting worse.

In correspondence seen by the NT Independent, Mr Hubber also emailed then-police minister Nicole Manison about the issue on June 16, 2021.

He did not respond to a phone call seeking comment.

“As you may be aware, last night there was a death in Peppimenarti, a member of the Wilson family was killed after being shot with a crossbow,” he wrote to Ms Worden.

“Information I have received this morning is that the group of perpetrators involved in the killing included various defendants in the personal violence restraining orders I have been seeking to have police serve.”

Mr Hubber told Ms Worden he drafted the personal violence restraining orders against the “main offender” late last year in “an attempt to curtail what was, at the time almost daily (more often nightly) harassment and violence perpetrated against my clients”.

Under the Personal Violence Restraining Orders Act 2016, applications need to be served on defendants and provided to the Police Commissioner before a court can make an order. People face up to two years in jail for contravening the order, with breaches including conduct causing harm, theft, damaging property, including the injury to or death of an animal, intimidation, stalking, and economic abuse, and a host of violence offences.

Under the Act, police officers can also apply for the orders to protect another person and serve them in a number of ways.

In his August 24 email, Mr Hubber wrote to Ms Worden that if police do not serve applications the court is powerless to make the orders.

“The Registrar of the Local Court has expressed frustration at the police refusal to assist with service. The net result is that the violence continues and the situation in Peppiminarti which ironically creates more work for police,” he wrote.

“Police have requested that the applicant’s ‘solicitors or a JP’ visit Peppiminarti for the purposes of serving the applications, this is obviously impractical and absurd.

“Police serve domestic violence orders every day in communities, it is a normal part of their job. The excuse that police ‘don’t want to be seen as taking sides’ is not valid nor does it make any sense, the application/orders are not police application/orders.

“Community police are the most practical option to serve PVRO applications, community residents are transient, police simply need to serve defendants when they see them. The police live in the community which is why the courts have always relied on them to serve orders.”

He said initially community police served four of the applications on the defendants at Peppimenarti in the same way they routinely serve domestic violence orders, as ordered by the Darwin Local Court.

“I can understand that the matters are technically civil in that they are not an action of the Territory, however, as you can appreciate, serving court documents on community members in a community six or seven hours drive from Darwin is not a straightforward matter.

“I can not simply send a process server to the community, it would be cost prohibitive even if I could get a process server to agree to attend the community.

Mr Hubber said the sergeant at Wadeye had agreed police would serve defendants only if the defendants came into custody for another matter.

“…This is better than nothing but not satisfactory,” he wrote.

“Please advise if you are available to meet to discuss this situation, the situation has now tragically reached a point where a young man has lost his life and the Police are required to take a more hands on approach.

Ms Worden did not respond to questions nor did NT Police media manager Rob Cross, however in an email from June 8, Peppimenarti Sergeant Luke Conroy wrote to the Northern Territory Local Court civil registry support service’s Geraldine Cusher explaining the policy he received from his “chain of command”.

“Due to the ongoing conflict within the Peppimenarti community with the applicants and the alleged perpetrators … it is believed police assisting in serving these civil PVOs will be looked at as taking sides / supporting one side in the conflict and may cause things to escalate,” he wrote.

“Therefore my advice is that the applicants will need to organise for their solicitor or a JP come out and serve these orders.”