Man charged with murder after ‘domestic violence-related death’ of woman in Katherine

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Top End regional centre of Katherine has seen a sting of alleged domestic violence incidents over the past months – including this week alleged murder of a 22-year-old woman by her 36-year-old partner near the centre of town.

Transcript

00:00A town in the grips of a quiet crisis.

00:05There's a real sense of profound grief and it does feel really hard at the moment.

00:15This was the crime scene on Tuesday morning, on a block near the centre of Catherine, where

00:19a 22-year-old woman was allegedly murdered the night before by her 36-year-old partner.

00:24The man was due in local court today.

00:27The matter adjourned because of an air conditioning malfunction.

00:30In a statement, NT Police's Major Crimes Unit confirmed there was a history of domestic

00:34violence against the 22-year-old and this will form part of the prosecution and coroner's

00:40report.

00:41A full autopsy report is yet to be completed, however initial investigations suggest the

00:4622-year-old suffered blunt force trauma.

00:49Serious domestic violence incidents are coming in rapid succession in this small top end

00:54town of about 10,000 people.

00:57Today another man was arrested in Catherine over a domestic violence disturbance last

01:01night.

01:02Police say the alleged victim was found on the side of the highway looking like she'd

01:07been assaulted.

01:08She was taken to hospital for her injuries to be treated.

01:11Less than three weeks ago, another woman was medevaced to Darwin after an alleged DV incident

01:16involving an assault with an edged weapon near the town's main shops.

01:20And in July, yet another Catherine woman died in hospital in Darwin, two weeks after

01:24she was allegedly assaulted.

01:26For women walking through our door who may need safety that night, even to secure that

01:32can be really challenging.

01:34Siobhan Mackay runs Catherine's Women's Legal Service.

01:37The Catherine Women's Crisis Centre do a tremendous job but often they don't have a bed available

01:43And because there are no other crisis accommodation options or short term accommodation options,

01:50it does often mean that women are then faced with the choice of going back to an unsafe

01:55home, or leaving Catherine, which also means leaving their support network.

02:02The NT government lobbied the Commonwealth at National Cabinet last month for a domestic

02:06violence funding deal that recognises the NT's disproportionate problem.

02:10We didn't walk away from that with needs-based funding, we just got per capita funding.

02:15So that's a fight I continue to have with the federal government, no matter who they are.

02:20Catherine women are some of the least safe in the country.

02:22So if you're looking at how we can work to support Catherine women, we need to acknowledge

02:28that and we need the investment across all services.

02:32Calls to protect the women at the centre of a national crisis.

Category

Transcript

Recommended