NT Police arrest 31-year-old woman over alleged stabbing death of partner in Alawa
Major crimes are investigating the alleged fatal stabbing of a 33-year-old man, the fourth suspected domestic violence homicide in the Territory in just six weeks. Read the latest.
Northern Territory
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A 31-year-old woman has been arrested following an alleged double stabbing at a Darwin home, killing a man and hospitalising an older woman.
Chaotic scenes broke the silence of Alawa Crescent on Friday night as neighbours heard the ‘screams’ as a 33-year-old man was discovered bleeding and unconscious while a 51-year-old sustained stab wounds to her leg.
NT Police confirmed they received a triple-0 call around 9.40pm reporting that two people had been stabbed at a home on Alawa Crescent, Alawa on Friday, February 28.
Emergency services arrived to find an unconscious 33-year-old man in a critical condition bleeding from wounds in both his legs, and a 51-year-old woman who appeared to have been stabbed in her leg.
Despite paramedics attempting to resuscitate him, the 33 year-old man was declared dead at Royal Darwin Hospital.
A 31-year-old woman was arrested at the scene, and it is believed the man was her partner and she knew the 51-year-old woman.
NT Police said investigations were ongoing, with charges against the 31-year-old expected to be laid at a later date.
On Saturday morning Major Crime investigators had set up a trail of yellow forensic markers marking a pool of dried blood near an overturned couch and a bare mattress left on the driveway of the Alawa home.
Neighbours told the NT News that they even saw police officers climbing on the roof of the home, scouring any additional pieces of evidence.
“They were going through the whole yard … they were taking photos of the whole lot,“ one neighbour said.
Despite a sign warning that alcohol was not permitted in the home, multiple cans of Victoria Bitters were left scattered in the grass.
Shocked residents said the “elderly lady” who lived at the home had tried to keep alcohol and intoxicated visitors away, with a sign stating that her house was a ‘restricted premises’ under the Liquor Act.
The neighbour said she had been preparing to welcome relatives from community to stay with her the day before the alleged fatal stabbing.
“She’s put a sign up ‘no alcohol’, but if you look to the yard there’s cans everywhere,” a neighbour said.
He said he believed the older lady had requested the sign be installed five weeks after moving in, and for some time it had reduced the issues around drinking he had observed.
“We never had any problems with them yelling or the noise or anything,” he said.
But he said before it was a ‘restricted premises’ the amount of alcohol was “unbelievable”.
“You would have people just rolling up there with eskies and just out of control,” he said.
“It was that many popping in you didn’t know who was which.
“That’s why she had the sign put up.”
This is the fourth suspicious death linked to domestic violence in the Territory in the past six weeks, following the alleged murders of two Alice Springs women and the ongoing investigation into the death of mother-of-three Veronica Wellings two weeks ago.
On Saturday Domestic Violence Minister Robyn Cahill said her thoughts were with the grieving loved ones of the 33-year-old man.
“I want to pass on my sincere condolences to the family of the man who died in this horrific incident,” Ms Cahill said.
“This is a reminder that domestic, family and sexual violence affects everybody.”
“Our CLP Government is absolutely committed to working to address the root causes of this vicious cycle of violence which is why we have committed to providing $36 million annually to fund prevention of domestic family and sexual violence initiatives.”
The coronial inquest found that to meet the scale of demand on domestic violence services an additional $180m was needed over five years just to meet the baseline needs of the Territory, stating the average of $36m a year was needed on top of existing funding.
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