Confronting new details have emerged about how a four-year-old girl was raped at an Aboriginal town camp a year ago, leaving her with lacerations and internal injuries.
Nathaniel Farrell, 34, was last week sentenced to 10 years’ jail in the Northern Territory Supreme Court after pleading guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent.
Shocking details of the June 2025 attack on the young girl at a town camp in Darwin can now be revealed after a non-publication order imposed by the courts was lifted following Farrell’s sentencing.
The court heard the girl was playing with a younger boy when Farrell offered them watermelon and lured her to a nearby house.
He removed the girl’s nappy and digitally penetrated her with significant force, which caused pain and bleeding, The Australian reported.
Afterwards, Farrell put the girl’s nappy back on before she returned home crying and told her mother about ‘the big man’.
The court heard semen found on the girl matched Farrell’s DNA.
‘The behaviour exhibited against this child is nothing short of horrendous,’ Detective Senior Sergeant Toby Wilson said in a statement at the time of the assault.
Shocking details have emerged about the rape of a four-old-girl at a Aboriginal town camp near Darwin (stock image)
Shocking details of the rape laid bare in court can now be revealed after Chief Justice Michael Grant lifted the non-publication order
Farrell was not known to the girl at the time.
Chief Justice Michael Grant described Farrell’s conduct as brazen as he handed down the lengthy sentence.
‘There was a degree of what the Crown has described as “rudimentary planning” in luring the victim to a secluded location with the promise of watermelon,’ he said.
‘The offending exposed the victim to sexually transmitted disease, although thankfully she did not contract anything.
‘This offending has no doubt had a devastating impact on the child and her family.’
While it was Farrell’s first sexual offence, he had a lengthy criminal history.
His previous convictions included aggravated assault, assaulting police, resisting arrest, property damage, breaching domestic violence orders and breaching bail.
Nor was this the first time Farrell had crossed paths with the judge.
Nathaniel Farrell, 34, was sentenced to 10 years jail in the Northern Territory Supreme Court
Chief Justice Grant previously sentenced Farrell over the brutal bashing of his then partner at another Aboriginal town camp in 2021.
The woman required surgery after she was attacked with a metal star picket.
Chief Justice Grant last week rejected a request from Farrell’s legal team for him to be classified as an at-risk prisoner and given protection amid fears he would be attacked by fellow inmates over the most recent offence.
‘That is ultimately a matter for the correctional authorities,’ he told the court.
‘He does not seem to be suffering under any sort of duress at the moment.’
Farrell must spend a minimum of seven years behind bars and will be eligible for parole in 2032.
The incident has renewed the spotlight on the safety of Aboriginal town camps in the NT following the alleged abduction and murder of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby near Alice Springs six months ago.
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