Woman charged after Northern Territory chief minister Natasha Fyles allegedly pied in the face
Woman charged after Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles allegedly punched her in the face
- NT leader hit with whipped cream pancake
- Woman charged with assault
- READ MORE: NT night of terror
A woman has been charged after Prime Minister Natasha Fyles was allegedly hit in the face with a cream-covered crepe.
The 45-year-old Northern Territory leader was punched in the face at the Nightcliff Markets, northwest of Darwin, about 11.40am on Sunday.
Police confirmed Monday that a 56-year-old woman has been charged with aggravated assault over the incident.
The woman has been bailed to appear in Darwin Local Court on October 10.
Footage showed a woman rushing at an unsuspecting Ms Fyles as she left a bank and allegedly shoving the cream-covered crepe in her face.
The accused woman is said to have smeared a whipped cream pancake in the Prime Minister’s face.
A local resident told me NT news Mrs Fyles ‘was very shocked and quite surprised’.
“The woman stood at a distance from Natasha as she wiped the cream from her face,” they said.
“(The Chief Minister) took out her phone and tried to film and photograph the incident. There were a few people around supporting her, but she didn’t seem to be in danger.”
They said the alleged attacker indicated the incident was related to a health issue.
“She was standing there with another woman and when people said she shouldn’t have done it, she said Natasha had stopped her husband from having heart surgery,” they said.
Ms Fyles is also the area’s health minister and attended the 15th anniversary celebration of the Bendigo Bank branch in Nightcliff, which is part of her electorate.
Nightcliff market manager Ross Dudgeon condemned the alleged attack.
“The Prime Minister is quite upset,” he said.
‘It has always been a relaxed community market. There is a difference between protesting peacefully and being obnoxious and violent. That is simply not the case.
‘Natasha is always here every Sunday, grabbing a smoothie and should never be exposed to that kind of aggression and violence.’
NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles is said to be ‘quite upset’ over the alleged attack on markets in her electorate
NT Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said NT Police were investigating whether the area’s leader’s security should be increased.
“It’s about appreciating the threat and the risk assessments, and how those manifest, and what kind of policing activities we put in place around people and making sure they’re safe,” he told The Australian.
A spokeswoman for Ms Fyles said the First Minister would have no immediate comment.