The domestic violence killings of Kumanjayi Haywood, Ngeygo Ragurrk, Miss Yunupiŋu and Kumarn Rubuntja are “truly shocking”, according to submissions to the Northern Territory coroner.
More than a year after the first inquest hearings on the killings of all four Aboriginal women by their partners, counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer has released her written submissions.
The four women were deeply embedded in their community and details of their death brought coroner Elisabeth Armitage to tears in 2023.
Ngeygo Ragurrk was an Aboriginal ranger, caring for country; Kumarn Rubuntja was a fierce domestic violence advocate.
A domestic violence worker described Miss Yunupiŋu as having “a beautiful smile”.
“She used to laugh. She was smart. She was intelligent. She was caring.”
“The details of Ngeygo’s death are truly shocking,” Dr Dwyer wrote.
“He beat her, using a weapon or weapons. He inflicted multiple blunt force injuries to her head, chest and upper limbs, as well as internal bruising to some of her organs.
“It is likely that she lapsed in and out of consciousness during the attack.”
The cases were examined together because they detailed the reality of how women are being killed in the Northern Territory.
“For the past 23 years, on average more than three Aboriginal women have been killed each year in the Northern Territory by domestic partners,” Judge Armitage told the court.
Dr Dwyer on Friday released nearly 250 pages of submissions that set out failings of NT Police and Territory Families in preventing these “brutal” attacks.
“Kumarn Rubuntja was 46 years old when her partner, Malcolm Abbott, ran her down with a car,” the submission read.
“Mr Marika took a 23cm steak knife from the kitchen and grabbed Miss Yunupiŋu by the hair. He stabbed her three times.”
Kumanjayi Dixon, the partner of Kumanjayi Haywood, poured petrol outside the bathroom door in their home and “deliberately lit the fire out of rage and jealousy, aiming to kill, or seriously wound and maim Kumanjayi Haywood.”
The documents show both Kumanjayi Haywood and Kumarn Rubuntja sent a final text message to loved ones before their death.
“[He’s] going to kill me tonight, love you so much, don’t cry for me,” Ms Haywood wrote.
In all cases the men involved had a “shocking history of violence towards women,” Dr Dwyer wrote.
In Miss Yunupiŋu’s case police responded to 16 domestic and family violence-related incidents.
“There is no record of Miss Yunupiŋu ever using violence towards Mr Marika,” the submission reads.
Malcolm Abbott, who killed Kumarn Rubuntja, was convicted of manslaughter for stabbing another woman in the chest, killing her and also stabbing a second woman in 1997.
The coroner heard about the family safety framework, a prevention measure that aims to wrap emergency and crisis supports around women who are at risk of dying from domestic violence.
In the case of Miss Yunupiŋu, it failed. She bounced on and off the family safety framework each time Mr Marika was jailed for assaulting her.
Acting Deputy Commissioner White said responding to domestic violence needed more collaboration and resources.
“I think it's not a job [for police] alone to do,” he said.
“The only way we're going to prevent further harm to the community and women and children in particular, is if we can change the behaviour of men, that is where it's got to be fixed.”
In Kumanjayi Haywood submissions, Dr Dwyer references Women’s Safety Services of Central Australia chief executive Larissa Ellis who spoke about the ongoing impacts of misogyny and poverty.
“Without addressing awareness in domestic and family violence, that’s a community responsibility … and how we respond to domestic and family violence, we are not going to get anywhere.”
The coroner is expected to hand down her formal recommendations on November 25.
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