Four people accused of murdering Palmerston teen Kingsley Alley Jr to be sentenced on January 31

Four people accused of killing a Palmerston teenager and young father have had their sentencing dates set. Latest from court.

Kingsley Alley Junior's relatives Mollie Nichaloff, Shakira Alley, Tysha Alley, Josephine Miller, Kylie Miller and Bianca Crawshaw appeared in Darwin Supreme Court on January 22, 2025. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Latest - January 23: Four people convicted of murdering Palmerston teenager Kingsley Alley Jr will be sentenced on Friday, January 31 – in the process ending more than two years of pain for the victim’s family.

Two days of pre-sentencing submissions wrapped up in Darwin Supreme Court on Thursday morning, with defence lawyers pushing back against the Territory’s mandatory sentencing laws.

In the Territory, offenders convicted of murder are automatically given a life sentence, meaning they’re not entitled to parole for a minimum of 20 years.

In November, a jury convicted Melissa Clancy, her daughter Madison Butler, Dechlan Wurramarra and an unidentified 17-year-old for Mr Alley’s murder.

Across a four week trial the jury heard the murder came after a series of incidents that occurred during and after a Palmerston party in which Mr Alley had argued with Miss Butler, who was his ex-girlfriend, and also an uber driver.

Palmerston man Kingsley Alley Jr was just 18 when he was allegedly murdered by four people in Driver in the early hours of October 8, 2022.

On Wednesday, David Edwardson KC, Melissa Clancy’s lawyer, argued his client’s sentence had been “disproportionate” because she had been sitting in a parked car at the time of the killing.

During the month-long trial last year, the jury heard Melissa Clancy had yelled: “Kill him, get him” and “kill him Maddy, double-bank him, all of youse,” as Butler, Wurramarra and the unnamed teenager bashed and stabbed their victim.

Mr Edwardson said his client’s forthcoming appeal against the sentence would focus on her distance from the murder scene, comparing her conviction to that of Katherine man Zac Grieve who was sentenced to a minimum mandatory 20-year sentence in 2011 despite having not attended the murder scene.

In his sentencing submission Thursday, Crown Prosecutor James Moore dismissed clemency as a sentencing option.

He said the assertion that the mandatory sentencing regime leads to injustice is not a “valid basis” to issue a recommendation that the Administrator exercise its executive function in a particular way.

“The suggestion that your honour should consider the otherwise appropriate sentence or a hypothetical sentence in my submission is similarly inappropriate,” Mr Moore said.

“The fact the court’s hands might be tied in that respect is one thing, but for your honour to remark that another sentence would have been imposed but for the operation of that legislation is, in my submission, not appropriate.”

Miss Butler’s defence lawyer David Hallowes sought a reduced sentence because she was only a few months over 18 when the crime was committed and she had a previously spotless criminal record.

John Tippett, representing Dechlan Wurramarra, argued his client was acting in self defence and Julie O’Brien, for the teenager, sought a reduced question based around his age.

Clemency plea for accused murderer as Kingsley Alley sentencing gets underway

Initial - January 22: Lawyers for a woman found guilty of murder will appeal for clemency in a last-minute bid to keep her out of jail.

David Edwardson KC told Darwin Supreme Court on Wednesday that he would seek executive clemency for Melissa Clancy, one of four people found guilty of murdering Palmerston teenager Kingsley Alley in October 2022.

Mr Edwardson told the court that Ms Clancy’s sentence was disproportionate in relation to her role in the murder.

“We say a 20-year non-parole period in the circumstances of my client’s alleged offending is to say the least, disproportionate to her alleged involvement in the death of Kingsley Alley,” he said.

“Having regards to the directions given by the court to the jury, the only rational explanation for the verdict must be the jury was prepared to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt.

Melissa Jane Clancy, 37, was charged with murder after an 18-year-old man's body was found outside a vacant home at Driver, Palmerston on October 8.

“This will be very much the focus of (Ms Clancy’s) appeal on the grounds of which I can say should be filed this week.

“In my submission the starting point is that a sentence of life imprisonment for the minimum non-parole period for 20 years is extraordinary when one has regard for the following facts.”

First among those was the lack of “direct evidence” of any conversation involving Ms Clancy and others involved in the murder that pointed to a desire to harm or even kill Mr Alley.

Earlier, the court had heard victim impact statements from Mr Alley’s loved ones with Madeline Roe, the teenager’s girlfriend and mother of his daughter, calling for justice.

“Kingsley invested a lot of time trying to overcome his rough upbringing and to improve himself and his circumstances,” Miss Roe said.

“Kingsley wanted to live to really create changes in his life and change the narrative for his daughter and siblings.

“It’s been two years since my daughter has seen her father. It’s been two years since we shared a conversation and how we wanted to raise our daughter and the distance is growing.

“I no longer have my support person here to make those decisions in parenting. I’ll never be able to call him again.

“I’ll never be able to tell our daughter why her dad isn’t around.

Kingsley Alley Jr's girlfriend Madeline Roe.

“Her father was stolen and a crucial relationship for our daughter was destroyed. A true victim of crime before she could even walk, talk or even get to know her dad.”

Ms Roe reflected on the brutality of the crime committed on her daughter’s father.

“Four people left my daughter’s father laying on the ground as though his life meant nothing, as though our lives meant nothing,” she said.

Palmerston teenagers Kingsley Alley Jr.

“His death was cold-blooded and wasn’t finished after they’d left him to die. He lives in each of those of us who love Kingsley.”

In November following a month-long Supreme Court trial, a jury took only 10 hours to convict Madison Butler, Melissa Clancy, Dechlan Wurramarra and an unnamed teenager for Kingsley Alley Jr’s murder in the early hours of October 8, 2022.

About 10 members of Mr Alley’s family were in court on Wednesday for the sentencing hearing.

Mr Alley was 18 when he was killed.

Under the Northern Territory’s mandatory sentencing laws, offenders convicted of murder receive a minimum 20-year mandatory sentence.

Ms Butler’s defence lawyer David Hallowes put the case to Justice Barr that his client deserved a lesser sentence because of her age.

He produced a number of certificates she had received through completing courses while in custody to highlight the unlikelihood of her reoffending.

Julie O’Brien, defence lawyer for the unnamed teenager, sought a reduced sentence on behalf of his age.

This was rejected by prosecutor James Moore, who said the teenager was 17-and-a-half-years at the time of the crime, making him only months younger than co-accused Madison Butler.

The hearing continues on Thursday.