Safety measures backed as two charged with CBD rapes

Two men have been separately charged with rape over alleged daytime attacks in the Darwin CBD. (Aaron Bunch/AAP PHOTOS)

A man accused of raping a woman in broad daylight will remain behind bars until he pleads in November.

Police arrested the 56-year-old on Tuesday afternoon after reports a woman was raped in a laneway of Darwin's city centre hours earlier.

He appeared on Thursday in Darwin Local Court facing charges of aggravated assault, sexual intercourse without consent and breaching a domestic violence order.

Magistrate Sue Oliver adjourned his hearing until November 29 when he is set to plead.

In a separate incident last week, police were called 100m down the road to the Darwin bus interchange after reports a woman was raped in the area.

A 24-year-old man was arrested and also charged with sexual intercourse without consent.

Both alleged assaults took place in broad daylight and the alleged offenders were unknown to the victims, police said.

There have been 316 sexual assaults between January and July, compared with 257 in the same period in 2022.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said any incidents were unacceptable, but the government was managing crime in the city.

"Women should have the right to move around our community safely, and those types of incidences are completely unacceptable," she said on Thursday.

"We've got a wide range of measures to make our communities safer and to have crime prevention."

CCTV is strewn around Darwin city while privately contracted, government-funded public order security guards conduct regular patrols.

The names of the two offenders cannot be published because the NT is the last Australian jurisdiction where accused rapists cannot be named before being committed to stand trial.

Ms Fyles has not pledged to lift the ban, though said she has been in discussion with other states.

"I have asked for advice from the Department of Justice on that specific question, about what legislative changes have been made in other jurisdictions and what the options will be in the territory," she said.

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