Kowanyama murder trial of Lenfred Leighwayne Tommy begins in Cairns Supreme Court

A Kowanyama man has pleaded not guilty to murdering his 27-year-old partner as the trial gets under way in the Cairns Supreme Court.

A KOWANYAMA man charged with murdering his 27-year-old partner has pleaded not guilty on the first day of his trial in the Cairns Supreme Court.

Lenfred Leighwayne Tommy pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to murder in the Cairns Supreme Court on Monday.

His plea was not accepted by the Crown.

Crown prosecutor Todd Fuller during his opening remarks told the jury he was about to take them on a tragic journey to the Indigenous community on the western side of Cape York.

He told the jury they would hear how an uneventful day turned into an uneventful evening, before Juanita Paul, 27, was stabbed several times with a kitchen knife, severing a major blood vessel in her arm.

“In the early hours of 27 June 2019, Juanita Paul died whilst doctors tried to save her life at the primary health care centre there in Kowanyama,” Mr Fuller said.

“She died of cardiac arrest, and that cardiac arrest was as a result of blood loss from injuries she had suffered.

“Those injuries were wounds inflicted by this knife here,” Mr Fuller said, brandishing a 24cm-long kitchen knife toward the jury.

Mr Fuller said the jury had already heard the admission made by Mr Tommy that he had unlawfully killed Ms Paul, but did not intend to kill her.

He said it was the Crown case that Mr Tommy at least intended to cause her grievous bodily harm.

Cairns police officers take Lenfred Leighwayne Tommy to the Cairns Watch house from the Cairns Airport in 2019. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

“What was in Mr Tommy’s state of mind as he struck Juanita Paul with that knife?” Mr Fuller said.

“We can’t look into his mind. It’s important then to look at what he did, where he came from, what he said and then what he did afterward. And of course the impact or effect drugs or alcohol may have had on him at that time.”

On Monday the court heard evidence from investigating officer Sergeant Adam Armstrong, who arrived in Kowanyama on a police flight the morning after the stabbing with a number of other police officers.

He told the court he arrived at 332 Karrenganang St to find a trail of blood from inside the house, onto the driveway and on the neighbour’s driveway.

After performing his preliminary investigations of the crime scene, Sgt Armstrong said he visited the watch house at Kowanyama Police Station to introduce himself to Mr Tommy.

“The conversation was to as I say introduce myself to advise him that I was investigating an assault, and there was a couple of conversations and I think it was at that point I informed him of the passing of Juanita,” Sgt Armstrong said.

“I recall him saying an off the cuff comment of ‘I can’t believe I did that’.”

Defence barrister Michael Dalton had no questions for Sgt Armstrong.

The trial before Justice Jim Henry continues.

Originally published as Kowanyama murder trial of Lenfred Leighwayne Tommy begins in Cairns Supreme Court