Bernard John Alice killed Alena Kukla and her baby in domestic violence murder-suicide near Alice Springs

Alena Kukla and her 14-week-old son were murdered in the Northern Territory outback just three months and three days after their killer was released from jail for a brutal assault on another woman. AK's loved ones are desperate for answers - and change. 

Alena Tamina Joy Kukla (AK) was killed at 16-Mile Creek, near Alice Springs, in July of 2022. Her killer also murdered her 14-week-old baby and then ended his own life.

*WARNING: This story contains the names and photos of an Indigenous woman and child who have died.

SHE was strong, joyful, devoted, kind and generous - one of those rare humans who’d hand their last dollar to a stranger in need.

A proud Arrenta woman, Alena Tamina Joy Kukla’s greatest achievements were her sons - eight-year-old Isaiah, three-year-old Tyson and 14-week-old Orlando.

By no means rich, AK gave her children everything a growing trio of lads needed – clothes on their backs, food in their bellies, toys, education, a welcoming and safe home they were proud to call their own.

And she gave them love. So much love.

On July 17, 2022, AK died from a bullet wound to her head at a remote outstation at 16-Mile Camp, about 25km from her hometown of Alice Springs.

AK’s baby boy was also murdered.

The killer was Bernard John Alice. He was AK’s partner, the baby’s dad and a man with a history of abusing women.

After killing AK and her son, he ended his own life.

It’s not clear if the 42-year-old had a permit for the firearm or how he came to possess the weapon.

Under Northern Territory law, he should not have had a gun as he was the subject of multiple domestic violence orders and held a fresh conviction after beating a woman with a star picket and his fists in November of 2021. He fractured her eye socket, cheek and nose. Surgeons put a steel plate into her face and she spent a week in hospital recovering from the assault.

Three months and three days after a court released him on a suspended sentence for this attack, the truck driver murdered AK and her baby.

The only person to survive the massacre in the harsh NT Outback was AK’s three-year-old son.

The boy’s great uncle, Mark Lockyer, believes the little bloke witnessed the murders of his loved ones.

COUNTING THE COST OF VIOLENCE IN 2022

AK was the 26th of 66 Australian women lost to alleged unlawful acts in 2022.

My research for the Australian Femicide Watch shows 35 of these women died as a result of alleged domestic violence and 60 of the victims were allegedly killed by men.

With 22 deaths, more women were allegedly killed in Queensland than any other Australian jurisdiction. NSW recorded 12 deaths, Victoria and WA had 10, the Northern Territory had six deaths, South Australia had five, the ACT had one and an Australian woman was killed overseas.

Australia recorded six murder-suicides of adult females in 2022.

A total of 32 women allegedly killed in 2022 were Caucasian and there were 14 victims from culturally diverse backgrounds.

Ten victims were from the Indigenous community - AK was one of these women.

SHE MATTERS: REMEMBERING AK

AK was born on June 6, 1992. The eldest of three children, she was adored by her parents and extended family.

AK had strong community connections to Eastern and Central Western Arranta.

She spent her formative years in Alice Springs before moving to Darwin where she matured into a thoughtful, caring and intelligent young adult.

Photos are all her loved ones have left of the 30-year-old.

They show a beautiful woman bonding with her children, cherishing their achievements and laughing and smiling with her family and friends.

In one picture, she grins cheekily, her deep brown eyes clear and bright, two fingers forming the peace sign as she looks over her Uncle Mark’s shoulder.

“I remember her as a little girl – she was always happy,” he says, re-living pride he felt as a 15-year-old lad holding his newborn niece in his arms.

“Even as a child she was always asking how other people felt and was always worrying and putting the other person before herself.”

AK’s mum died about five years ago from an alcohol-related illness and her dad lost his fight with cancer in mid-2021.

The deaths of her parents shattered AK’s world.

“When she lost her mum, she was really sad,” Mark says.

“She was close to her mum.

“And then she lost her dad while she was trying to get her life together.

“Everything kept happening in her life that would drag her down.”

Mark speaks candidly about the challenges AK faced, saying she had ongoing problems with alcohol and experienced violence at different times in her life.

Indigenous women are 11 times more likely to die as a result of domestic violence than other women - and they are 29 times more likely to be hospitalised for family violence injuries.

“In our community in Alice Springs there is always domestic violence, there is alcohol-fuelled violence – there is violence almost every day,” Mark - a health promotion worker - says.

“It was nothing for us kids to grow up around it - we’d see it every day, basically.

“I’d say half my family have died either from violence or alcohol.

“It’s normalised for children – a lot of kids like AK grow up thinking it’s normal for their partner to bash them – it’s a normal way of life.”

AK’s first baby arrived when she was about 22. She gave birth to her second son five years later.

The children’s father was abusive but she tried to keep the family together.

It seems things came to a head for AK, when he was sent to jail and placed on a violence restraining order.

AK ended the relationship, more than prepared to take on the challenge of raising her sons as a single mother.

“She’d got herself a house in Alice Springs – she would proudly call it ‘my house’,” Mark says.

“She kept it really nice, there were pictures of her kids up on the wall.

“She was determined to have a home for her children – one where they could have their own rooms.

“She was proud of having her own place.”

14-week-old Orlando was killed alongside his mum by his father.

Mark says AK and Alice began their relationship about 18 months before he killed her.

Alice’s own addiction to alcohol weakened AK’s resolve to give booze the boot - she spent the rest of her short life riding that chaotic up-and-down see-saw many alcoholics know well - drink, dry out, drink, dry out, drink and so on.

“Yeah, it was really hard,” Mark says.

“She’d go through times of drinking and then not drinking - when she was not drinking, she was way more happier, but then she would get back into the drinking again.

“She tried her best – she was always trying to make her life better for herself and her kids, but she always got worn down.

“She tried to make it out of the situation and then she’d get brought down again.”

The couple would often drink together.

The drunker Alice got the more violent he became.

Mark met Alice about five times, saying he noticed a raft of other red flags in the other man including coercive control and domination.

“He was very controlling of her,” Mark says.

“He would tell her where she could go, who she could talk to, what she could wear and he was also being very violent towards her.”

Other family members witnessed the violence, with NT Police called to the property where AK died a number of times following brutal assaults on the mother.

Following an attack in the weeks before she died, police were alerted but family say it took officers 24 hours to check on her and when they did show up, they failed to take statements from witnesses and AK.

News Corp asked NT Police to respond to these allegations and also to disclose whether or not Alice had a permit for the gun.

Neither issue was addressed.

Assistant Commissioner Michael White did say: “Police can confirm the man and woman were in a domestic relationship at the time of the incident.

“As with all homicide investigations, a review of all the circumstances surrounding the deaths includes assessment of any reported prior family violence incidents of both the deceased, and a review of the relationship history of all the parties involved.

“This information will make up the file prepared by the police for the Coroner.”

‘A GOOD MAN WHEN SOBER’

On April 14, 2022, AK – with new babe in arms – accompanied her partner to the Northern Territory Supreme Court where he would be sentenced for the bashing of his former lover at 16-Mile Camp about 18 months earlier.

The victim hit him when a bottle of Jack Daniel’s was accidentally spilt, Justice Trevor Riley noted during the brief hearing.

Alice grabbed a star picket – a heavy metal fence post – and smashed the woman across the face, fracturing her eye socket.

As she cowered on the floor, he beat her repeatedly with his bare hands, the punches so hard they broke her cheek bone and her nose.

He only stopped when a relative pulled him off the woman.

Alice was arrested and charged about three weeks later. He spent 400 days on remand before he was bailed on strict conditions, including reporting to police and not drinking.

“That is a very positive report, in relation to your compliance with your bail conditions, and is to your credit,” Justice Riley told him.

Alice’s criminal history included an 18-month stint in jail for brutally assaulting his former father-in-law in February of 2011, after the older man remonstrated Alice for abusing his daughter.

In that attack, a drunk Alice used a roasting fork to stab the victim in the lungs, causing significant injuries.

As he lay critically injured, Alice fired a .22 calibre rifle around the house and in the air. By some miracle, no one was shot.

READ MORE: Why ‘abusive’ dating app users are being outed on Facebook

Alice’s criminal past also included a number of convictions for threatening others, possessing and failing to correctly store firearms and multiple traffic offences.

Alice’s former partner did not provide a victim impact statement, but Justice Riley said the woman told authorities he was “a good man when sober”.

“However, she believes you are dangerous when you are drunk,” Justice Riley said.

“Following the assault, she obviously felt pain and she did not feel safe at that time.”

AK was not in the courtroom as Alice was sentenced, instead she was outside the room looking after their baby.

“She says that you have been a hard-working, loving, caring and helpful partner and a good role model for the children,” the justice told him.

“She is very supportive of you.”

Justice Riley said Alice acknowledged the assault on his former partner and had shown remorse.

“You are sorry for what you did and you express your apologies to your victim,” the justice told him.

In sentencing Alice, Justice Riley said both the perpetrator and victim were drunk and the defendant was - at first - defending himself but he had crossed the line into “unwarranted violence”.

“This was another example of drunken violence in a domestic situation between two intoxicated people,” Justice Riley said.

“Unfortunately, such violence is commonplace in Central Australia.

“The courts must impose sentences which act as a general deterrent, reflect the need for punishment and that express the concern of the community with such offending.”

He sentenced Alice to nine months in jail, suspending the term and placing the offender on a two-year good behaviour bond.

“In all of the circumstances, as I have described them, I regard for your prospects for rehabilitation as being positive,” Justice Riley said.

“However, personal deterrence remains a consideration.”

Exactly 94 days after hearing these words, Alice murdered AK and her baby.

Had the court jailed Alice, Mark says, his niece and grand-nephew would be alive.

“I don’t understand why he was not locked up,” he explains.

The Territory’s Minister for the Prevention of Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence, Kate Worden, says an inquest will examine the murders and the government will take seriously any recommendations made by the coroner.

“I won’t pre-empt what findings or recommendations the coroner may make” Ms Worden says.

“This event is one that is far too common in Australia, but especially in the Northern Territory involving Aboriginal women.

“It affected the local community, the broader community and family members and friends.

“My heart still hurts for them especially.”

‘OUR FAMILY IS HEARTBROKEN’

It’s far from clear as to why AK was unable to separate from her partner but it’s not unusual for women to stay.

It takes, on average, seven attempts to leave a perpetrator before a violence survivor is able to break free.

The point of leaving a relationship is the most dangerous time for many women - there’s an increased risk of violence, which can lead to the victim or their loved ones being injured or killed.

Throw in financial and housing instability, a lack of kinship or community supports, insufficient social justice and welfare services, perpetrator manipulation and a mother’s desire for children to maintain connection with their father and it’s not hard to see just how complex ending the relationship becomes.

For Indigenous women there are many other factors including cultural issues such as connection to community and country.

Then there is perpetrator manipulation.

“Perpetrators use a range of tactics to entrap women in an abusive relationship,” Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre director Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon explains.

“In the early stages of a relationship this can include love bombing, mirroring and gaslighting - so even where a person knows the partner has been abusive previously they are led to believe this could never happen again.

“Through coercive and controlling behaviours - such as isolation from family and friends, limiting access to education and employment, financial abuse - the barriers to leaving an abusive relationship can be significant.”

A man being bailed or paroled on violence offences and going on to kill is not a rare occurrence.

Many hundreds of Australian women have been killed violent men who have had contact with authorities - the killing of Hannah Clarke and her children and the murder of Doreen Langham are just two recent cases that come to mind.

“In too many cases of women killed, we hear the perpetrator has a history of violence, was known to police and the courts,” Prof Fitz-Gibbon says.

“Yet the violence continues and the risk of lethal violence (is) unidentified.

“We need improved domestic violence informed risk identification and assessment practices across a range of different systems to better identify risk of violence and keep women and children safe.”

READ MORE: 36 children dead: Tragic stories of young lives taken

Mark hopes the deaths of AK and her son will be the spark which lights the fire of change Australia so desperately needs to end violence against women and children.

He says Indigenous Australians must themselves recognise the impact of domestic violence and alcohol-fuelled violence and take ownership of working to end it.

The Northern Territory has Australia’s highest rates of domestic and family violence and almost all victims in the Top End are Indigenous.

“Our culture is the oldest living culture, yet I would like to know why Aboriginal women are 45 times more likely to be in a domestic violence relationship than a non-Indigenous woman?,” Mark asks.

“Indigenous children who grow up in violent homes are also likely to enter into a domestic violence relationship or be the person committing the violence.

“A lot of women are talking up against domestic violence, but I believe men should be talking up as well.

“We need proper women’s shelters that are going to protect women and we need men’s shelters where violent men have a place to go and the woman does not have to leave her home.”

Ms Worden agrees, saying the level of abuse is unacceptable but it will take national action to reduce the toll.

“There needs to be a national discuss about domestic violence in First Nations populations as much as the rest of the population,” she says.

Each state and territory has signed onto the federal government’s National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032.

The plan aims to erase abuse in one generation by shifting community attitudes around gender-based violence with a particular focus on perpetrator accountability – for example having people ask “why doesn’t he stop?” instead of asking “why doesn’t she leave?”.

The concept is relatively new and needs ongoing policy and funding support if it is to make a difference, but Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence Justine Elliot remains hopeful it will work.

“The current rates of violence against women and children in Australia, particularly deaths, are heartbreaking,” Ms Elliot says.

“We know that one woman in Australia dies every 10 days at the hands of her former or current partner.

“It is completely unacceptable and it must end.

“Women and children deserve better.”

READ MORE: Four weeks of horror: 16 women killed across Australia

The national plan has good intentions, but right now it is cold comfort for those left to pick up the pieces after the killing of AK and her baby.

It’s her surviving sons who are paying the highest cost, even though they are too young to understand the full gravity of the act which stole away the life of their mum and their little brother.

Their elders and community will spend years trying to ease the trauma caused by the man whose selfish act of violence stole from them two innocent lives.

“Our family is heartbroken,” Mark says.

“Her kids are growing up, not knowing their mum and their little brother.

“We miss her everyday; there isn’t a day that we don’t think of her.

“She was always happy and had a smile on her face and we won’t see that smile again.

“Their deaths have turned our lives upside down.”

News Corp’s Sherele Moody has multiple journalism excellence awards for her work highlighting violence in Australia. Sherele is also an Our Watch fellow, the founder of Australian Femicide Watch, The RED HEART Campaign and the creator of the Australian Femicide & Child Death Map and All That Remains: The Memorial to Women and Children Lost to Violence.

Originally published as Bernard John Alice killed Alena Kukla and her baby in domestic violence murder-suicide near Alice Springs