Media release

Charges - Pedestrian strike - Barkly region

Police

A 48-year-old man will appear before Darwin Local Court charged in relation to an incident in which a female pedestrian was struck on a remote location along the Stuart highway in Central Australia last month.

At 8:40pm on 19 April, a 47-year-old woman was walking north on the Stuart Highway 15km south of Barrow Creek when she was struck by a passing vehicle.

The man stopped the vehicle immediately after the crash, but fled into nearby bushland on foot after he was confronted by a family members of the victim.

The family members caused extensive damage to the man’s vehicle prior to police arrival.

The man was arrested some time later when he approached officers investigating the crime scene.

The woman suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries and was transported to the Alice Springs Hospital and later medivaced to the Flinders Hospital in Adelaide.

The man was charged with Drive a motor vehicle cause serious harm and Drive without Due Care and is scheduled to appear before court on 23 June, 2021.

Police continue the call for witnesses who may have seen a woman walking on the road edge prior to the crash, to contact them on 131 444 referencing PROMIS job 9662786.

Officers from the Major Crash Investigation Unit are yet to rule out whether alcohol was a contributing factor in the cause of the crash.