A man allegedly in a relationship with a 16-year-old girl has been accused of murdering the teenager in a remote community.
The 26-year-old man has been charged days after the girl died at Alpurrurulam, near the Northern Territory-Queensland border, about 1500km from Darwin.
The man allegedly assaulted the girl before she arrived at a Alpurrurulam health clinic early on Monday.
The teen suffered cardiac arrest upon her arrival at the clinic and later died, police said.
"It was at that time that the clinic staff also noticed that she had various number of injuries to her body," police acting Commander Mark Grieve told reporters in Darwin on Monday.
Police believe the girl was transient but primarily resided in Queensland near Mount Isa, about a four-hour drive from Alpurrurulam.
The man was believed to have been in a "domestic relationship" with the girl, police said.
The man was arrested on Monday and transferred to Darwin as detectives and forensics officers travelled to the remote community to investigate the death.
He remained in custody assisting police with enquiries before being charged with murder on Wednesday night.
Alpurrurulam has been the scene of recent community unrest, prompting the evacuation of its health clinic staff.
However acting Commander Grieve said police believed the teen's death was unrelated to the unrest.
The man was due to appear in Darwin Local Court on Thursday.
SOURCE/AUTHOR : AAP NEWS/Lloyd Jones in Darwin
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