Madison Butler, Melissa Jane Clancy and Dechlan Wurramarra's murder trial delayed

A legal issue has resulted in the murder trial of four co-defendants, who are charged with fatally assaulting a Palmerston teenager, being delayed by at least two months.

Updated: The murder trial of four co-defendants charged with murdering Top End teenager Kingsley Alley Jr has been delayed until the end of October.

Co-defendants Madison Butler, 20, Dechlan Wurramarra, 22, and a teenager aged 17 at the time of Mr Alley’s death, appeared in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory at Darwin on Monday.

A fourth co-defendant, Ms Butler’s mother, Melissa Jane Clancy, 39, has also been charged with Mr Alley’s murder.

The court was told by Crown prosecutor Steve Ledek there was “no possibility” of the trial commencing on Tuesday as initially planned due to a legal issue.

The trial has now been provisionally listed for October 28, which the court heard would be problematic for defence counsel Ian Read SC, as he is slated to prosecute a matter of longstanding for him during that period.

However, Justice Peter Barr said if the trial could not be listed in late October then it would likely not receive a new listing until the second half of 2025.

Mr Read suggested he could find someone else to prosecute his unrelated matter.

The murder charges were listed for further mention on September 5 so Justice Barr could be updated on the resolution of the legal issue.

The trial is expected to last for three weeks.

Mr Alley, 18, had recently become a father when he was fatally assaulted in the early hours of Saturday, October 8, 2022, allegedly at the hands of the four co-defendants.

The young man’s body was found at sunrise on a driveway outside a vacant Driver home.

Police previously alleged the young Driver resident had suffered significant head trauma.

Trial date set for teen dad’s alleged murderers

March 1: A Territory court has set the trial dates for the four alleged killers of a teenager who was found dead in his own neighbourhood.

The body of 18-year-old Kingsley Alley was found brutalised outside a vacant home near the corner of Waterhouse Crescent and Driver Ave in October 2022.

Madison Butler, her mother Melissa Jane Clancy, Dechlan Wurramarra and a teen who was 17 at the time were charged with the murder of the teenage father.

18-year-old Kingsley 'Junior' Alley holding his newborn daughter Eleanor, with stepmum Kylie Simmonds. Kingsley was allegedly murdered at Palmerston on October 8, 2022.

It is alleged he was attacked sometime between midnight and 6.30am, less than eight weeks after his daughter Eleanor was born.

Chief Justice Michael Grant set down a three week trial date for August 12-30.

A pre-trial hearing has been laid down for July, with both to be heard in the Darwin Supreme Court before Justice Peter Barr.

Madison Butler, 20, left, Butler’s mother Melissa Jane Clancy, 39, centre, and Dechlan Wurramarra, 21, and a 17-year-old boy (not pictured) were all charged after Kingsley Alley Jr’s body was found bloodied and beaten on a Palmerston driveway on October 8, 2022.

Prosecutor Steven Ledek said up to 45 witnesses were on the list, however that would be whittled down to a smaller number of “critical witnesses” for the trial.

“This is all of the witnesses who have provided statements or some part of the evidence of the overall case,” Mr Ledek said.

“More necessarily, or as the outline suggests, there are really only a small number of critical witnesses here.

“There’s also CCTV footage, which does not necessarily go to the actual assault, there’s some phone footage and audio recordings, but in essence there isn’t a great deal of material to play.”

Originally published as Madison Butler, Melissa Jane Clancy and Dechlan Wurramarra's murder trial delayed