Warning: this story contains details that some readers may find distressing.
The Northern Territory coroner will spend four weeks later this year examining the murders of four Aboriginal women, all killed by partners with a history of domestic violence.
The landmark inquiry was preceded by a directions hearing at the Local Court in Darwin on Friday, where the coroner heard that for cultural reasons, the women will be known as: Miss Yunupingu, Kumanjayi Haywood, Kumanjayi Rubunja and Kumanjayi Ragurrk.
All four of the women resided in different parts of the Northern Territory and each case, their lives, and the circumstances leading to their deaths, will be examined individually.
All four of the women suffered horrific fates at the hands of their partners.
Miss Yunupingu, who was 29 at the time of her death, was killed in Darwin in 2018 by Neil Marika who had consistently abused her for 12 years, and at the time, had a full non-contact domestic violence order against him. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Kumanjayi Haywood, 34, died in 2021 when an alleged domestic violence altercation with her 36-year-old partner in the Hidden Valley Town Camp led to a deliberately lit fire. Haywood succumbed to her injuries two days later, as did the man the following week. No charges were laid before his death.
Kumanjayi Rubunja – a prominent Central Australian anti-violence campaigner who visited Canberra in 2018 to speak on the subject to federal politicians - died in 2021 in Alice Springs after being repeatedly and deliberately rammed by her partner Malcolm Abbott in his vehicle. Abbott, who had a history of violence towards women and multiple domestic violence charges, was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Kumanjayi Ragurrk was stabbed on Darwin's Mindil beach in 2019 by Garsek Nawirridj, who the judge described as "abominable". Ragurrk, a West Arnhem woman was killed by blunt trauma to the head and possible drowning. Nawirridj dragged Ragurrk's unconscious body 70 meters along the beach and dumped her in shallow water. The Gunbalanya man had an extensive history of violence, incarceration – based in part due to childhood trauma – and was deemed to have little to no chance of rehabilitation. In sentencing him to 13 years, NT Supreme Court Judge Jenny Blokland said of Nawirridj; "You showed her no mercy."
Judge Elisabeth Armitage, who is overseeing the inquests, said each of these deaths "has contributed to the mounting Australian statistics of the women who have been killed by their domestic partners".
She warned the inquest would be "confronting, shocking and traumatic" but was not to attribute blame, rather to analyse why the system designed to protect women consistently failed – often with tragic results.
Counsel assisting the coroner, Dr Peggy Dwyer, told the court on Friday that each of the women had been the victim of "horrific violence" prior to their deaths, "often witnessed by families or community members who may have felt helpless to intervene".
Dr Dwyer told the hearing that NT women experience the highest rate of domestic and sexual violence in the country and, because so many instances are not reported, the statistics don't "paint the whole picture".
The deaths of Ms Ragurrk and Miss Yunupingu will be investigated in Darwin whilst the inquiries into the deaths of Ms Rubuntja and Ms Haywood will be held in Alice Springs.
The inquiries will take place over four consecutive weeks, starting on 12 June in Alice Springs before adjourning until October where expert evidence into each of the deaths will be heard over another two weeks in Darwin.
