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Alice Springs 'world stabbing capital'
What, no bans???
Alice Springs 'world stabbing capital'
Alice Springs 'world stabbing capital'
By Tamara McLean
March 25, 2008 03:42pm
Article from: AAP
STABBINGS in Central Australia's tourist capital have reached epidemic proportions, and traditional Aboriginal thigh spearing is being blamed.
Surgeons at Alice Springs Hospital say the town is in crisis, with the number of stab injuries, blunt force injuries, bone breaks and burns admissions rising.
The town now reports the highest rate of stabbings in the world, with 390 incidents for every 100,000 people.
Most concerning, say the medics, is that almost 40 per cent of the stabbings were thigh injuries most likely meted out by Aboriginal elders as traditional punishment.
The practice, designed to settle grievances, is performed by elders who "have a deep knowledge of human anatomy and are skilled at spearing the femoral artery with deft accuracy," Dr Abraham Jacob wrote in a report published in the latest ANZ Journal of Surgery.
The study shows 16 of the 605 Aborigines admitted with thigh stab wounds between 1998 and 2005 were dead on arrival.
"We found a significant and particular pattern of traditional stab injuries," Dr Jacob said.
"Medial thigh injury to kill, posterior thigh to permanently disable and lateral thigh to punish."
Contrary to anecdotal reports, women were just as likely to be subjected to the practice as men, and the location was town camps and homes, not streets or pubs as previously thought.
Alcohol played a role in 30 per cent of stabbing admissions.
About 20 per cent of the victims were admitted with stab wounds more than once, and in the same number of cases the victim absconded before they had completed treatment.
Dr Jacob and his colleagues said the study was the first to reveal the extent of injury and death due to traditional spearing, saying it adds to the town's growing poor statistics.
"Alice Springs has been given the title of the crime capital of Australia, and its town camps have been described as a 'sea of despair' with conditions similar to South African ghetto townships," Dr Jacob said.
The camps' population was expected to double in the next five years, speeding up already increasing rates of injury and death.
"Central Australia's tourist capital is in crisis," he said.
"A multi-pronged approach is needed, engaging Aboriginal leaders, social uplifting and economical support and education of the entire community."
What, no bans???
