The weekend victim of an alleged killing remembered as loving mum
Details have begun to emerge about the last tragic days of slain Maningrida woman Naomi Galminda. Read what could change.
Northern Territory
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The mother-of-three allegedly murdered in Coconut Grove at the weekend was in Darwin to share sorry business with family members.
Naomi Galminda, 36, had travelled from Maningrida in Arnhem Land following the death of a woman who had been injured in a hit-and-run in Brinkin in April.
Ms Galminda was remembered as a kind and caring person who loved Maningrida and her children, a teenage son and daughter and a younger daughter.
Her final days alive were spent at Litchfield Court public housing estate off Progress Drive in Coconut Grove.
She was expecting to return to Maningrida this week but her life was tragically cut short on Saturday when she was allegedly murdered by a man known to her.
Neighbour Kaka Zaira has lived at Litchfield Court for eight years and remains on a public housing waiting list for alternative accommodation. He said alcoholism and violence were a feature of the precinct once the sun went down.
“It just gets crazy sometimes and nothing can stop it,” he said. “It’s not a good way for people to live in small homes and they just should close it here.”
Couple Colin James and Robyn Rankin moved to Litchfield Court six months ago after leaving Maningrida and first living in public housing in The Narrows.
“It should have more protection, more patrols here because when the police are called it takes forever to come here. They’ve got other accidents to attend to also but when it comes to serious stuff it’s too late so they need more patrolling.
“We all come from different areas. We come from Maningrida, there’s Lajamanu, Alice Springs, Borroloola and Port Keats. There are a lot of different tribes here in one area and it causes chaos between tribes because we’re all different tribes.
“I moved out of my community two years ago to keep my family safe from back home, but we’ve come here and still found there is danger all over the place, not just our own community but Darwin also.”
In the wake of Ms Galminda’s death, Chief Minister Eva Lawler flagged the possible closure of Litchfield Court along similar lines to the old John Stokes Square, that was demolished in 2019 and replaced with seniors and disability housing.
Ms Lawler said Ms Galminda’s death was “absolutely horrific” and suggested large scale public housing models such as Litchfield Court could be contributing to public safety concerns.
“Infrastructure is part of a solution around (public safety),” she said. “Some of the old model of public housing, I don’t think particularly works very well.
“We’ve been able to knock down some units in (Moulden), we’ve also knocked down what was the old John Stokes Square – Litchfield Court’s probably on the agenda as well around knocking down those units.
“The old model of having those large unit blocks with lots of people there, you see people congregating, people coming from out of town, people drinking – we understand that it’s not safe.”
An inquest last year heard domestic violence incidents reported to Northern Territory police increased by 117 per cent over the past decade, and were expected to increase by a further 73 per cent by 2033.
A “conservative” estimate put the cost of officers responding to domestic violence in the last financial year at $100m, but at current trends that figure is expected to reach $209m by 2029-30.
Uniformed and non-uniformed officers were still at the crime scene on Monday morning, with a drone being used to fly over the unit where the alleged murder took place.
Assistant Police Commissioner Janelle Tonkin confirmed police had attended the Litchfield Ct unit previously but was not aware if it had been in connection with the couple.
Assistant Commissioner Tonkin said the death comes as NT Police grappled with “unprecedented calls for assistance” for domestic violence disturbances”.
A 43-year old man will face court on Tuesday on one count of murder, one count of sexual intercourse without consent and one count of breaching a domestic violence order.
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