Detectives from the Regional Investigations Division have arrested and charged a 31-year-old man in relation to an aggravated robbery in Alice Springs last week.

Sometime around 11:30pm on Friday September 27 the man was driving with two passengers – a woman and another man, north of Alice Springs when an argument broke out between them and the driver stopped the car on the north Stuart highway across from the motor vehicle registry office.

It is alleged the woman got out of the vehicle, followed by the man who punched her several times to the head causing her to lose consciousness.

The man got back into the car, which belongs to the woman, and drove off leaving her by the side of the road. The woman contacted St Johns Ambulance and was transported to the Alice Springs Hospital for treatment to non-life threatening injuries.

Detectives found the man hiding at a vacant property in East Side yesterday morning and he was subsequently charged with one count each of;

• Aggravated robbery
• Unlawful use of a motor vehicle
• Drive Unlicensed
• Drive Unregistered/Uninsured Motor vehicle.

He is scheduled to appear before the Alice Springs Local Court today.

Inquiries continue to identify the other male passenger in the vehicle at the time of the incident.