Michael Singar: NT teen who identifies as a Jovi Boy jailed for horrific Gray rape

An intoxicated West Daly teenager has been jailed for a violent home invasion at Palmerston, following her inside her home and brutally raping her. She’s bravely shared her ongoing trauma. Warning: Distressing.

Peppimenarti teenager Michael Singar had manslaughter charges dropped following a fatal crossbow shooting on September 13, 2022.

A teenager has been jailed for a violent home invasion at Palmerston where he raped the occupant three times, using threatened and actual violence to subdue the terrified woman, who has bravely told of the ongoing trauma she faced.

Michael Singar, 19 at the time of the offending, previously pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory at Darwin to five counts.

They were three of sexual intercourse without consent, and one each of deprivation of liberty and entering a building with intent to commit an indictable offence.

The offences were all committed on October 6 last year at a residential address at Gray, Singar’s sentencing hearing on September 11 before Justice Stephen Southwood heard.

Singar, who claimed to have consumed two 10-packs and a bottle of Jack Daniels prior to the rape, followed his victim, a 37-year-old Aboriginal woman unknown to him, into her home at about 8.30pm, despite her having told him to “f--- off,” the court heard.

Michael Singar, 18, was charged with manslaughter and recklessly endangering life after a 36-year-old was allegedly fatally pierced with an arrow in Peppimenarti on September 13, 2022.

Once inside, Singar tackled her onto a mattress, pinned her down, threatened to “f---ing kill you” in response to her struggles, and orally raped her.

He then proceeded to digitally rape her, both vaginally and anally, before orally raping her again in the bathroom (not charged separately).

Singar then dragged her back to the bedroom where the rape continued, the defendant using such force to spread her pubic area she screamed in pain, before he punched her in the head to quieten her.

Again inserting his penis into her mouth, he was so forceful his victim vomited onto the bed and then passed out.

She woke to Singar having sex with her, the court heard, and eventually he desisted and left.

The woman made an immediate complaint to police, who were initially unable to find Singar, but were able to arrest him at an address on Emery Ave when the woman called triple-0 after seeing him enter a residence.

He remained on remand in pre-sentence custody between his arrest on October 9, 2023 and this month’s sentencing.

In a victim impact statement tendered to the court, the raped woman said she had been plagued by mental demons since the offending.

“I’m paranoid, thinking people are walking around my yard, because he caught me in my own house,” she said.

“I keep having flashbacks.

“I can’t even barely clean my house or do normal things now.

“I just lie in bed in pain most of the time or stagger down the road to make coffee and get a smoke.

“This is a real big shame job for me.

“It’s the worst pain I’ve been through.”

Justice Southwood told the court Singar, who lives between Palmerston and Wadeye and attended Kormilda College as a boarder up until year 10, periodically abused cannabis and alcohol, and displayed pro-criminal leanings on his social media accounts.

They included a description of himself as a Jovi Boy (an infamous Wadeye-based criminal gang), posing with a bow and arrow and showing off his electronic monitoring ankle bracelet, and multiple references to ‘FTP’ (f--- the police).

Singar was jailed for seven years, backdated to his arrest on October 9, with a non-parole period of five years.

In June last year, a manslaughter charge against Singar relating to the crossbow death of a 36-year-old man at Peppimentarti was dropped, with the charge relaid against a different man.

Singar was instead convicted of recklessly endangering serious harm.

The rape breached the suspended sentence he was given for the reckless endangerment.

‘I’ll f--king kill you’: Teen cleared of bow killing rapes woman in terrifying home invasion

Earlier, July 21, 2024: A teenager cleared of killing a man with a longbow in Peppimenarti last year has returned to court after repeatedly raping a random stranger in a terrifying Palmerston home invasion.

Michael Singar, 19, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to three counts of rape and one count of deprivation of liberty after he approached the woman as she sat on her veranda in October.

Crown prosecutor Steve Ledek said the woman called out “What do you want? I don’t know you, f--k off” to Singar as he walked “up towards her in the darkness”.

Mr Ledek said as the woman retreated inside, Singar followed her and grabbed her from behind, pushing her inside and throwing her onto a mattress before slamming the front door shut.

“The offender tackled the victim into the mattress and pinned her down, she resisted but as they wrestled, he managed to remove her pants and position his body, pinning her down and demanding to have sex with her,” he said.

“The offender threatened the victim, saying ‘F--k up or I’ll f--king kill you’, causing her to fear for her life.”

After Singar raped the woman “regardless of her attempts to protest and struggle”, she realised she “needed to try and get an opportunity to escape” and told him she needed to go to the bathroom.

Peppimenarti teenager Michael Singar had manslaughter charges dropped following a fatal crossbow shooting on September 13, 2022.

Singar then let the woman get up but followed her to the bathroom where he raped her again before dragging her into her bedroom and raping her a third time.

Mr Ledek said as the woman “continued trying to wrestle the offender to get him to stop”, he punched her in the head, which stopped her physically resisting before she eventually vomited and lost consciousness.

“When she came to she made an effort to once again escape the offender by telling him she needed to have a shower,” he said.

“The offender continued to have sex with the victim while she pleaded with him to ‘Please stop, help, please stop’.”

Mr Ledek said Singar then allowed the woman to go to the bathroom and finally left the house so she was able to get to a payphone to try to call the police but had to walk to a relative’s house after finding it out of service.

Three days later, the woman again rang police after seeing Singar had returned to the area and they questioned him over his whereabouts on the night.

Singar told them he had been at home but his DNA was later linked to the attack and he was arrested that night.

Mr Ledek did not oppose pre-sentence reports being obtained before Singar returns to court on September 4.

“There seems to be a lot of questions that are unanswered here and the community needs to know what it is that we can expect or what we can do to rehabilitate, if we can,” he said.

Originally published as Michael Singar: NT teen who identifies as a Jovi Boy jailed for horrific Gray rape