Former school principal spared jail

A former Alice Springs school principal has been handed an 18-month suspended sentence for the aggravated assault of four Indigenous students.

Gavin Morris was found guilty in October on four counts of aggravated assault against students in 2023 and 2024, while he was the principal of Yipirinya School.

Alice Springs Local Court Judge Anthony Hopkins said only a prison term would be appropriate given the “seriousness” of Morris’s offending.

‘Sufficient measure of punishment’

He sentenced Morris to 18 months in prison suspended for a period of two years.

“I am satisfied that it is desirable to suspend the sentence of imprisonment immediately … a significant sentence of imprisonment carries with it a strong and sufficient measure of punishment, general deterrence and denunciation, marking the seriousness of the event,” Judge Hopkins said.

“Requiring you to serve a period of that sentence in full-time custody would do little to achieve the purposes of specific deterrence, it would almost certainly be counterproductive to your prospects of rehabilitation.”