Top End man jailed for failing to help brutally beaten partner

A man who stomped on his partner’s head in front of their young child and didn’t call the ambulance for more than 24 hours has been jailed.

A PALMERSTON man who stomped on his partner’s head in front of their young child and left her to drift helplessly in and out of consciousness for more than 24 hours has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.

Fernan Alorlor, 42, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to unlawfully causing serious harm, callously failing to help the woman and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The court heard the 32-year-old mother of Alorlor’s children had been yelling at him to leave their house in October 2020 when he grabbed her around the throat, “squeezing her windpipe with force”.

He then bit her on the face, forced her to the ground and repeatedly stomped on her head until she lost consciousness before carrying her to the bedroom and putting her to bed.

Justice Peter Barr said the woman eventually regained consciousness but remained disoriented and fell out of bed several times during the night, hitting her head on a chair, the floor and a wall in the process.

By the next morning, Justice Barr said the woman was in “a fluid state of unconsciousness”, with her eyes swollen shut and only capable of making “groaning sounds”.

“For approximately the next 28 hours, the victim did not leave the bed,” he said.

“She was unable to communicate or function properly and was unable to properly control

her bowel movements.

“You went to sleep on a mattress on the floor of the lounge room at about 10pm. You had not heard the victim speak or seen her move from the bed all day.”

The following day, Alorlor called his friend, John Dienjes, telling him his partner “fell and hit the chair” and asking him to “look after” her before finally calling an ambulance.

“I note that not only was your call for an ambulance overdue by a day or more but that you failed to mention your violent assault of the victim,” Justice Barr said.

“I also note, in the context of all of these events, that your 10-month old child was present for the entirety of the assault against the victim and her condition in the days following.”

Justice Barr said as a result of the sickening attack, the woman had suffered brain injuries so severe she now required 24/7 support “in the full range of daily requirements”.

In the months that followed, Alorlor used Mr Dienjes as a go-between to continually try and pressure the now severely disabled woman to drop the charges against him.

“You called Mr Dienjes and requested that he write a letter to give to the victim which she could give to the lawyer and the judge to have the charges dropped,” Justice Barr said.

“You even dictated the contents of the letter, saying, ‘I want Fernan home with me so he can look after me and the kids. I love him very much’.

“There were no threats or violence, but undoubtedly there was emotional pressure brought to bear on the seriously injured victim as she lay in her hospital bed, still coming to terms with her impairments and trying to understand what had happened to her.”

Alorlor will be eligible for parole after three years and six months.