Alleged murder victim Tony Rowe’s final agonising moments laid bare as Keith Waldock pleads to assault

Court documents have detailed the final terrifying minutes of Tony Rowe’s life after his close friend pleaded guilty to attempting to cover up his alleged murder. Warning: Distressing.

The final, agonising moments in the life of slain Darwin man Tony Rowe have been laid bare after his close friend pleaded guilty to trying to cover up the 36-year-old’s alleged murder.

Keith “Lumpy” Waldock pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court on Wednesday to assaulting Mr Rowe on the day he disappeared from the Hibiscus Tavern in May 2022 before destroying evidence of the killing and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

A statement of agreed facts tendered to the court was subsequently obtained by the NT News after Justice Sonia Brownhill agreed to allow it to be taken as read “given its length and its somewhat sensitive content”.

The document reveals the 43-year-old had known Mr Rowe, whose sister was the mother of his grandchildren, for about 15 years before he vanished without a trace.

It reveals Mr Rowe “would often call (Waldock) ‘father-in-law’ in jest”, while they “drank together and talked with each other often” and Waldock thought of Mr Rowe “as more than a brother”.

After moving to Darwin in March 2022, the document states Mr Rowe entered in to an arrangement with the man now charged with his murder, 30-year-old Timothy Hunt, to sell cannabis in Aboriginal communities.

On the morning of May 28, all three men spent the day drinking together and unsuccessfully “trying to source cannabis”, with Waldock and Mr Rowe becoming “significantly intoxicated”.

After dropping the pair at the tavern about 7.45pm, Mr Hunt then picked up his 22-year-old Tinder date, Jasmine Shier, and went back to the venue where Waldock and Mr Rowe had since been refused service.

The remains of missing man Tony Rowe were found just days before the one-year anniversary of his disappearance.

After Mr Hunt obtained Mr Rowe’s mobile phone and sat him in the back seat of his car, he gave Ms Shier his keys and they both got in, with Ms Shier driving and Waldock in the back seat with Mr Rowe.

As they drove, the document states Mr Hunt and Mr Rowe began discussing their cannabis venture before things started to take a darker turn, with Mr Hunt demanding he provide him with his phone’s password.

When Mr Rowe refused, Mr Hunt turned around and knocked a beer from his hand and struck him with his left hand, accusing him of owing him up to $10,000 “for not organising the cannabis for the planned run”.

After directing Ms Shier to pull over near Campbell Road in Holtze, Mr Hunt “grabbed the deceased and demanded that he tell him the pass code” before getting out and dragging him out of the car by the ankles.

The document states Mr Hunt began punching and kicking Mr Rowe to the head and body, while Waldock “joined in” and Mr Rowe “kept falling over” as Mr Hunt and Waldock continued to “pick him up and lean him against the car”.

“By now the deceased had said that he ‘wanted to call his mum’ however Hunt refused this request,” the document reads.

“Hunt continued to assault the deceased for approximately 20 minutes during which time Hunt would attack the deceased’s head and occasionally (Waldock) would punch the deceased’s body.

“By now the deceased was bleeding from his face and holding his ribs.

Keith Waldock was often called ‘father-in-law’ by Tony Rowe, who was uncle to his grandchildren.

“As the assault continued, Hunt would say that the deceased owed money and that he had ‘ruined the whole run’.”

It was then, the document says, the situation turned grimmer still, with Mr Hunt retrieving an axe from the car and striking the ground with it “in an attempt to scare the deceased into providing the pass code”, at which point he told him “it will all be over”.

What happened next would cause Waldock to “wet himself in fear” after, the document says, Mr Hunt returned to the car to get a pair of wire cutters and proceeded to use them to cut off Mr Rowe’s pinky toe.

Mr Hunt then told Ms Shier “he took it like a man, he didn’t even flinch” before returning to where Mr Rowe lay on the ground, now armed with a Stanley knife.

“That’s enough, that’s enough, just leave him,” Waldock pleaded.

“We will pick him up when he wakes in the morning.”

But instead, the document says Mr Hunt picked Mr Rowe up and used the Stanley knife to cut his throat, telling Ms Shier “it’s done, it’s done, we’re going”.

Tony Rowe was reported missing on May 30, 2022, two days after he was last seen at the Hibiscus Tavern in Leanyer.

“Hunt told Ms Shier to start the car,” the document reads.

“He then got out of the car and dragged the deceased’s body into the trees.

“Hunt got back into the car and said that he could still hear the deceased breathing but that he was ‘drowning on his own blood’, that he ‘knew for a fact’ that he had ‘hit a main artery’ and that he ‘wouldn‘t live for long’.

Mr Hunt and Waldock then got out of the car and kicked dirt over the urine and blood on the ground before getting back in and driving away.

Waldock will return to court for sentencing on July 12 while Mr Hunt is due to face a criminal call over hearing in the Supreme Court on July 18.

Ms Shier was charged with destroying evidence and making a false declaration before all charges against her were withdrawn in March.

Originally published as Alleged murder victim Tony Rowe’s final agonising moments laid bare as Keith Waldock pleads to assault