Jovi Boy Darius Miller pleads guilty to firing fatal crossbow bolt into 36-year-old man at Peppimenarti

A young man whose friend was falsely accused of killing a 36-year-old man has admitted to firing the fatal shot.

Darius Miller, 22, was charged with recklessly endangering life, engaging in violent conduct, aggravated assault and damaging property at Peppimenarti in September 2022.

A Jovi Boy whose friend was falsely accused of killing a 36-year-old man has admitted to firing the ‘catastrophic’ fatal shot, two years after the tragedy.

Darius Miller appeared before the Supreme Court in Darwin on Friday to plead guilty to committing a violent act causing the death of a 36-year-old man on September 13, 2022.

Justice Sonia Brownhill heard the then 21-year-old Peppimenarti boy was caught up in the chaos of a violent, long-running family feud in the remote West Daly community, 330km southwest of Darwin.

Miller and his 18-year-old friend Michael Singar were at the basketball court when they heard the roar of a white troop carrier doing burnouts on the oval.

Prosecutor Steve Ledek said a large group of people from a rival family arrived at the oval armed with weapons and torches, with both sides “exchanging insults and threats” and chasing the hooning vehicle.

Mr Ledek said both Miller and Mr Singar were aligned with a particular family group — colloquially known as the ‘Jovi Boys’ — and they joined into the fray.

Mr Singar pulled back the string of his black crossbow and Millar loaded a crossbow bolt, before both men fired into the dark field.

The next thing they heard was “screaming, wailing and crying” as one of the two projectiles pierced the chest of a man visiting from Timber Creek.

After hearing the screams of the dying man with “catastrophic” injuries, both of the young men ran off.

The teenage Mr Singar fled to his grandmother’s home, flinging himself in her arms saying: “Nan, I did something really bad. I think I shot someone with an arrow”.

Singar handed himself into police, incorrectly claiming he was responsible for the fatal shot with his crossbow.

It took investigators and the courts nine months to establish that it was a bolt — not the arrow — that lodged into the chest of the Timber Creek man.

After spending more than 100 days in prison, manslaughter charges against Mr Singar were dropped.

He pleaded guilty in July 2023 to the lesser charges of recklessly endangering serious harm and bail breaches.

Millar’s charges were then upgraded to the homicide charges.

The Supreme Court heard that prior to this incident, Millar had no criminal history.

Millar was granted funeral bail until October 24, and will return to the Supreme Court on November 25 for submissions and sentencing.

Originally published as Jovi Boy Darius Miller pleads guilty to firing fatal crossbow bolt into 36-year-old man at Peppimenarti