Katherine man Kim Kellett pleads guilty to manslaughter

A man who shot and killed a home intruder at his property near Katherine has entered a plea in court. Read here how it played out.

Katherine man Kim Kellett. Picture: Facebook

A man who shot and killed an alleged home invader near Katherine earlier this year has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Kim Jamie Keith Kellett, 39, appeared in the Supreme Court on Tuesday charged with shooting and killing a 26-year-old man who entered his home near the Cutta Cutta Caves Nature Park, about 30km south of Katherine, on March 17.

Kellett was initially charged with murder before that charge was withdrawn in August and replaced with a charge of reckless manslaughter.

Dozens of people packed into the courtroom to support Kellett, who wiped away tears.

The court heard just after 4am on March 17, Kellett’s wife, Danielle, an NT park ranger, went into the kitchen to prepare a bottle for her daughter, who was two at the time, when she saw a man standing in the room after entering through an unlocked door.

After seeing the man, who the court heard was wearing only boxer shorts and “covered in grass”, she screamed, waking Kellett.

Katherine man Kim Kellett pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Picture: Facebook

Kellett confronted the man and told him to “f*** off” before chasing him out of the home.

Senior Crown Prosecutor Marty Aust read aloud a conversation between Ms Kellett and a triple-0 operator during which Kellett said: “Hurry up because he’s gonna get shot, mate, my kids are here.”

The court heard shortly after the call ended, Kellett left his house with a .308 bolt-action rifle, walked three metres and fired a shot towards a noise down his driveway.

The court also heard he told an attending police officer: “Oh, s***, I only just fired a warning shot.”

“The offender was aware there was a substantial risk that the deceased could be shot and suffer a fatal injury,” Mr Aust said.

“He was reckless in causing the death of the deceased.

“It was reckless in the extreme to fire a gun in the vicinity of a noise into the dark, believing that noise has been, or was attributable to the deceased.

“The Crown doesn’t accept this was a warning shot.”

Justice John Burns said the “real question” was the “degree of moral culpability on the part of the offender”.

The Supreme Court heard Kim Kellett was woken by his wife’s screams when she found an unknown man in her kitchen. Picture: Facebook

“The offender did not go out that night looking for the deceased,” Justice Burns said.

“That is, he did not leave his house and go out and commit a crime somewhere else in the community. He was in bed. The deceased came to him.

“The offender did not know the deceased, did not know what he was capable of, didn’t know anything other than the fact that this man, half naked, is found in his kitchen at four o’clock in the morning.”

Kellett’s lawyer Jon Tippett KC told the court his client, was a “family man” and “devastated by the fact another man has died”.

“He is genuinely, genuinely remorseful for what has occurred,” he said.

“It was not his intention to hurt or kill another man.”

In a victim impact statement read aloud by Mr Aust, a cousin of the victim said her heart “shattered into a million pieces” when she learned of her cousin’s death.

“He was like a brother to me and my siblings,” the statement said.

“Social media has been a nightmare.

The Supreme Court heard on Tuesday, Kellett’s wife, Danielle, centre, entered her kitchen to find a man standing in boxer shorts and covered in grass.

“Seeing the things that people have been commenting on news articles about my cousin was just absolutely heart-wrenching.

“A lot of these comments came from locals of Katherine … I didn’t want to face these people.

“It made me feel very anxious. This has had a huge impact on my social life.”

Justice Burns described the case as a “tragedy all round”.

“I can understand the anger of the family of the deceased,” he said.

Kellett will be sentenced in the Supreme Court on November 1.

Originally published as Katherine man Kim Kellett pleads guilty to manslaughter