Kumanjayi Haywood died with horrific burns to 90% of her body after her former partner doused the house in petrol and set it on fire.
Hours before, she had sent a text to a loved one: “[He’s] going to kill me tonight, love you so much … always and forever in my [heart emoji].”
Ngeyo Ragurrk was beaten to death over several hours by her former partner at Darwin’s Mindil Beach.
Miss Yunupingu was stabbed to death by her former partner in a home in Palmerston, on 4 October 2018.
Kumarn Rubuntja was murdered by Malcolm Abbott outside the Alice Springs hospital on 7 January 2021. Abbott ran over her in his car, then reversed.
These four women’s shortened lives and brutal deaths are part of a landmark coronial inquest which began in July 2023 and concludes on Monday, when the Northern Territory coroner, Elisabeth Armitage, is due to hand down her findings.
Armitage combined the deaths of Kumanjayi Haywood, Ngeygo Ragurrk, Miss Yunupingu and Kumarn Rubuntja to examine systemic failings across the domestic, sexual and family violence sector.
All four women had reported to authorities or loved ones their fears for their safety in the weeks, months and even years before they were killed. All four perpetrators had histories of family violence and were known to police.
The inquest has heard shocking testimony about an “epidemic” of violence against Aboriginal women, which the coroner has called a “terrible, terrible carnage”.
“This is not somebody else’s horror. This is our horror,” Armitage said in court in October 2023.
Armitage’s investigations have found 81 women have died as a result of domestic violence in the NT since 2000. 93% of them were Aboriginal. The NT has the worst domestic and family violence rates in the nation. Its domestic homicide rate is seven times the national rate. Aboriginal women in the NT are 40 times more likely to be hospitalised for domestic violence.
And these statistics are growing worse.
The NT police commissioner, Michael Murphy, told the inquest in May there has been a 117% increase in domestic and family violence over the past 10 years, and police expected it to rise by a further 73% over the next decade.
Counsel assisting the coroner, Peggy Dwyer SC, told the court that 50% to 80% of NT police’s entire workload was spent on domestic and family violence matters. NT police spent 882,000 hours on domestic violence in 2022-23. Based on those figures, Dwyer said, the projected costs of police response to domestic violence by 2026 would be a minimum of $156m a year.
Murphy said NT police faced challenges in recruitment and retention, there were concerns about racism within the force and there was a significant number of officers on long-term sick leave.
Under questioning by Phillip Boulten SC representing one of the women’s families, Murphy revealed that an NT police sergeant shared a photo of a topless Aboriginal woman with a WhatsApp group of other officers in Alice Springs. The woman had been unconscious in a public place when the photo was taken, the court heard.
A member of the group reported it to the professional standards command, and an internal inquiry recommended the officer be demoted from sergeant and transferred. But Murphy told the court he rescinded that decision after the officer admitted to the act and had shown contrition. Instead, Murphy said, the officer was transferred to Darwin and given a 12-month good behaviour bond, but not demoted.
The inquest heard evidence of “chronic and shocking” underfunding, and services struggling to meet demand.
In August 2023, the court was told the NT government had rejected calls for $180m to be spent over five years for women’s shelters, behaviour change programs and policy reform. It had provided the sector with $20m over two years.
The NT government director of strategic policy in the domestic, family and sexual violence reduction division, Anna Davis, told the court in May this year the territory needed “sustainable needs-based funding” from the commonwealth.
Due to its small population, the inquest heard, the NT receives just 4.6% of federal funding under the national partnership agreement on family and domestic violence.
In August, Dwyer put 30 recommendations to the coroner that she said should be addressed, including increased and indexed funding for family violence services, an overhaul of prison and men’s behaviour-change programs, culturally appropriate supports including interpreters and the establishment of an NT peak body for domestic and family violence.
On Friday, the NT’s peak Aboriginal health body, Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (Amsant), called on the NT government to fulfil its $180m election commitment to tackling the crisis.
Amsant’ ‘s CEO, Dr John Paterson, said the new CLP government needed to move “beyond lip service”.
“Before the election, both major parties recognised the desperate need and committed to $180m over five years to support specialist services. Yet, since taking office, the CLP government has provided no details on how this critical funding will be delivered,” Paterson said.
This month, the eighth alleged domestic violence-related homicide since June was recorded in Katherine, Paterson said.
“This is a crisis that has already cost far too many lives, particularly the lives of our Aboriginal women – and the reality is that these deaths, these traumas, are preventable,” he said.
• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
