By Erin Pearson
Warning: Distressing content
Ankle bracelets for domestic violence offenders could be used to protect at risk victims, a judge has suggested, after the murder of a mother who did everything she could to protect herself.
Nelomie Perera, 43, was hacked to death with an axe in front of her children despite seeking police help, getting a safety plan and wearing a smartwatch designed to protect her from her estranged husband.
Dinush Kurera arrives at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne.Credit: AAP
Dinush Kurera, 47, flew back into Melbourne from a work trip in December 2022 and was slapped with a non-contact order by police to stop him going near his wife.
But two days later he drove to Bunnings, buying an axe and crow bar before travelling to Perera’s Sandhurst house after dark and dressed all in black and gloves.
He parked streets away before forcing his way into the property via a back fence and attacking Perera, who died from 35 separate injuries, largely to the head and neck.
The couple’s two children witnessed the attack, running to neighbouring homes to raise the alarm.
Dinush Kurera with Nelomie Perera.
All the while, Perera’s safety watch was recording her final cries of, “help me, help me”.
Following a five-week trial, a Supreme Court jury took just over two hours to find Kurera guilty of murder.
It can now be revealed he had rejected an earlier deal that would have seen him sentenced to as little as 21 years’ jail if he pleaded guilty.
Instead, Kurera persisted with his wild claims that he killed his estranged wife in self-defence, forcing his children to relive the horror of that night for the jury.
Nelomie Perera.
During an earlier pretrial hearing Justice Michael Croucher lamented that Perera did everything she could to protect herself, even activating her safety watch so that it recorded her own brutal killing.
Croucher raised the possibility of ankle monitoring bracelets being placed on Victorians at risk of committing family violence which may prevent deaths such as Perera’s from ever occurring.
“She was murdered in circumstances where she did everything she could [to protect herself],” Croucher said.
“She changed the locks on her home, moved your property to a storage unit, obtained a family violence intervention order, she had a safety plan and even had a safety watch fitted.
The Sandhurst crime scene.Credit: Nine News
“Despite all this, her worst fears were realised. All her safety watch did was record the horrible sounds of her murder.”
Croucher said while it may be too big a step to place ankle devices on someone not facing any criminal charges, but suggested people subject to court orders should be made to wear them as an extra level of protection.
Kurera was born in Sri Lanka before migrating to Australia in 1997. He married Perera in 2005 before they moved into the Sandhurst house he helped build.
In 2016, he bought Inflatable World in Knox, but the company collapsed in 2018. He went onto become involved in building a hotel at a Sri Lankan airport.
The pair’s relationship began to deteriorate in 2022 when Perera found her husband was cheating on her with a woman in Sri Lanka where he spent significant periods of time for work.
When she told Kurera, over the phone, that she wanted a divorce he threatened to kill her.
Perera reached out to police, family violence service the Orange Door and changed the locks to her home and the pin code to the front door.
She told friends and family she was stressed and scared whereever she went after learning he had booked flights back to Australia.
The court heard that after the murder, police arrived at the house to find it in darkness, with Kurera telling officers, “I killed my wife”.
During the trial, Kurera did not deny striking Perera with an axe but argued he did so in self-defence when she allegedly armed herself with a knife.
His defence team also argued it was the mother-of-three who had been abusive and Kurera simply wanted to move on from the marriage.
“He did what any person would do and was entitled to in those circumstances – he defended himself. Rage met rage,” defence barrister John Desmond told the jury.
The couple’s two teenage children had rushed downstairs after hearing their mother’s screams to find her bleeding on the ground.
When their son tried to get help, Kurera hit him in the head and knee before he managed to escape through a back door. Kurera was also found guilty of that assault.
He was remanded in custody for sentence at a later date.
In Western Australia, family violence offenders will soon be forced to wear ankle monitors as the government there moves to tighten coercive control laws. In May, the NSW government added the rollout of electronic monitoring bracelets for men accused of serious domestic violence offences there to their major new bail reform plans.
Currently, Victoria is without a state-run electronic monitoring scheme for people who are facing criminal charges and on bail.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).