{"id":891425,"date":"2026-09-14T07:28:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T07:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/891425\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T07:28:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T07:28:17","slug":"police-arrest-boy-11-take-eight-year-old-home-after-pair-allegedly-held-up-darwin-hotel-at-knifepoint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/891425\/","title":{"rendered":"Police arrest boy, 11, take eight-year-old home after pair allegedly held up Darwin hotel at knifepoint"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police have charged an 11-year-old boy with armed robbery after he allegedly held up a Darwin fast-food restaurant and hotel at knifepoint yesterday, accompanied by another boy aged just eight.<\/p>\n

A Northern Territory Police spokesperson said the pair were wearing balaclavas when they entered the Zambrero restaurant on Mitchell Street in the central business district about 11:50am.<\/p>\n

Police allege one of the boys then pulled a knife on a worker and demanded money from the cash register before the staff member “retreated to safety”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Metro Hotel on Cavenagh Street where the boys allegedly threatened a staff member with a knife. (ABC News: Randi\u00a0Dahnial)<\/p>\n

“It is alleged the [boys] then attended a hotel on Cavenagh Street where they threatened a staff member with the knife and attempted to rummage through the reception desk before fleeing on foot,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

“Police CCTV operators tracked the pair’s movements, and they were arrested a short time later.”<\/p>\n

The older boy was remanded in custody and charged with aggravated robbery, while the eight-year-old was taken home and placed into the care of an adult.<\/p>\n

Malak man restrains armed teen<\/p>\n

Less than two hours before the alleged hold ups, investigators say a northern suburbs man allegedly spotted a 16-year-old boy on a home CCTV camera unlawfully entering his residence on Magdelene Court in Malak.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said the man called police before returning home to confront the boy with some friends, and when the group arrived the boy allegedly armed himself with a knife and began damaging property in the kitchen.<\/p>\n

He disarmed the boy with the help of his friends and was allegedly bitten on the chest while attempting to restrain him.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Police say they were kept busy responding to reports of youth crime in Darwin and Palmerston this week. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)<\/p>\n

The teenager has been charged with aggravated assault, burglary and property damage.<\/p>\n

Just a week earlier, police arrested two 13-year-old boys after five youths allegedly ransacked a Palmerston petrol station.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said the group, aged between nine and 13, raided the Shell service station on the corner of Yarrawonga Road and Roystonea Avenue on September 6.<\/p>\n

Two of the boys allegedly ransacked the store, stealing food and drink items before smashing a glass door and accessing the area behind the counter.<\/p>\n

Surge in NT youths in custody under CLP government<\/a><\/p>\n

Internal NT Police data reveals rising numbers of children and teens being held in watch houses.<\/p>\n

Police said one of the group left the shop to round up the four others before the youngest member, aged just nine, threatened a male worker with a pair of scissors.<\/p>\n

The ordeal left the man with minor injuries to his hands, wrist and knee.<\/p>\n

Investigators allege the group then fled with cigarettes, before police were able to find and arrest two of the 13-year-olds.<\/p>\n

One of them, who was on bail at the time, was charged with four offences including aggravated robbery and engaging in violent conduct.<\/p>\n

The other boy is facing charges of aggravated robbery and engaging in violent conduct.<\/p>\n

Police are continuing to search for the other three boys.<\/p>\n

September youth crime wave<\/p>\n

The latest incidents follow a string of reported crimes across the NT allegedly involving more than 20 youths during the past two weeks.<\/p>\n

On Friday police charged four teenagers aged between 14 and 17 after they allegedly took two utes on joy-rides spanning hundreds of kilometres across the Top End.<\/p>\n

The group allegedly stole the vehicles from the Palmerston suburbs of Gunn and Zuccoli before stealing more than 100 litres of diesel from service stations in Berrimah and Coolalinga.<\/p>\n

A driver and passenger in one of the utes were arrested about 92km away near Adelaide River after the vehicle was allegedly spotted reaching speeds of up to 150km\/h.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Police in Alice Springs say two 17-year-olds were charged last week for a range of crimes. (ABC News: Bridget Judd)<\/p>\n

About two hours later, police tracked down the second ute and arrested a 16-year-old and 17-year-old at Daly River after they earlier abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot.<\/p>\n

Last week a 17-year-old boy was charged with aggravated burglary, property damage and theft in Alice Springs after allegedly ransacking a bar and running away with cash and alcohol in July.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month a 17-year-old girl was charged with aggravated assault after she allegedly tried to steal a car from a home on Gnoilya Street in The Gap.<\/p>\n

In Tennant Creek a 16-year-old by was charged with aggravated assault over an alleged domestic violence attack while armed with a blunt weapon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police have charged an 11-year-old boy with armed robbery after he allegedly held up a Darwin fast-food restaurant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":891426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[461210,461209,64,63,461213,461211,461212,44,27077],"class_list":["post-891425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-8-year-old-armed-robbery","tag-armed-robbery-darwin","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-criminal-age-of-responsibility","tag-hold-up","tag-knifepoint-robbery","tag-news","tag-youth-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/891426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}