Tiwi Islands Town Manager Faces Legal Action Over Blocking Murder Accused's Bail

Lawyers are preparing legal action against a Tiwi Islands town manager after the court heard she blocked a man charged with murder from being granted bail to the islands, where his potential arrival has provoked rioting. Justin Bukulatjpi, 20, is charged with the murder of a 26-year-old man and unlawfully causing serious harm to another, following a violent brawl that tore through the remote community of Milingimbi last month. Last week in the Northern Territory Supreme Court, Mr Bukulatjpi was set to be released from jail on strict bail conditions to live with family members in Wurrumiyanga — the largest community on the Tiwi Islands — to avoid ongoing conflict in his home community in central Arnhem Land. However, those plans stalled after the island community reportedly erupted in unrest over the judge's decision to send him there, with around 100 people rioting. Mr Bukulatjpi appeared in the NT Supreme Court on Thursday morning, where his lawyers told the judge they were urgently seeking a resolution. The court heard the executive director of township leasing — a statutory corporation under the Land Rights Act and effectively the town's manager — had barred Mr Bukulatjpi from "common areas" of the community. Early in the hearing, Justice Judith Kelly interjected to "state for the record" that, while she understood the manager's "dilemma", there were appropriate avenues, including seeking a stay or an appeal, to have the decision for Mr Bukulatjpi to be bailed to live there reversed. "She [has] made an order that I presume she's entitled to make under the Act that Mr Bukulatjpi not be in the common areas, whatever that is, of the township because of her concern for community safety," Justice Kelly said. Mr Bukulatjpi's defence lawyer Lachlan Spargo-Peattie said he agreed with Justice Kelly. Mr Spargo-Peattie told the court his preference was to resolve any Aboriginal land rights issues "by agreement" outside of court, noting that Mr Bukulatjpi's family had been liaising with Tiwi Islands traditional owners who may be in a position to lift any restrictions. Alternatively, he said, it was the defence team's view that the way the executive director went about blocking his client from being bailed to live with his family was invalid, and he would be seeking to urgently challenge the decision. "Our preference would be … to make the order today, granting us leave to dispense with the usual requirements," he said. "That way we can file and serve the application and give the executive director as much notice as possible, but then hopefully come tomorrow [we can say] that there isn't a problem." The court also heard that it was still unclear exactly where Mr Bukulatjpi had been blocked from, as the executive director had only made a determination about "common areas", which usually only count the township, Mr Spargo-Peattie said. "There may be an address outside the town lease," Justice Kelly said. "And there are other little communities on the island." The court heard Mr Bukulatjpi's lawyers were also looking at alternative places their client could be bailed to, including his grandmother's home in Darwin. The case will return to the Supreme Court on Friday.