Juror distress threatens trial of man charged with murdering Kumanjaya Dhamarrandji

A 52-year-old man is standing trial charged with the brutal murder of his partner in a Darwin unit, with a crime scene so distressing jurors were brought to tears. WARNING: GRAPHIC DETAILS

A juror in a murder trial has said they were too distressed to continue after seeing video of the horrific crime scene.

John Mayatjun, 52, is facing the Supreme Court charged with the murder of his 49-year-old partner Kumanjaya Dhamarrandji at a Coconut Grove unit in August 2021.

Footage taken by one of the crime-scene investigators was played in court as the three-week trial began on Tuesday, showing the officer enter the Litchfield Court townhouse through a colourful sarong pinned to the front door.

Kumanjaya Dhamarrandji was killed at a Coconut Grove unit in August 2021. Picture: Thomas Morgan

Inside the unit is sparsely furnished, Ms Dhamarrandji’s niece only having moved in a week before, with a camp chair in the corner and an abandoned bowl of noodles by a sleeping mat on the living room floor.

The officer quietly looks through each room to a soundtrack of unfiltered grief — wailing, sobs and screams piercing through from family outside.

As he enters the laundry the reason becomes starkly clear, with Ms Dhamarrandji’s brutally beaten body lying sprawled on the tiles, one of her legs still in a full cast from an injury weeks prior.

Pools of blood plaster her curls to her head and the walls are covered in red streaks and handprints.

The Crown alleges Ms Dhamarrandji was killed from multiple blunt force injuries inflicted by stomping, punching, repeated blows from a heavy object, or being crushed by Mayatjun’s bodyweight.

“The injuries inflicted upon Kumanjaya Dhamarrandji were comparable to injuries seen in pedestrians who have been hit by a car,” prosecutor Victoria Engel said in her opening statement.

It was alleged Mayatjun, who the jury heard had a long history of domestic violence, killed her some time on August 27, 2021, before she was discovered by her niece just before 8pm that night.

Ms Dhamarrandji’s niece discovered her body in the laundry. Picture: Thomas Morgan

Defence lawyer Jack Pappas said Mayatjun’s defence was simple: “I didn’t do it”.

“You will start to see that the Crown jigsaw puzzle - which is a circumstantial case - just doesn’t work.”

After the vision of Ms Dhamarrandji’s body was played in court the alternate juror handed a note to the judge saying they could not attend the trial and could not attend a planned visit to the Coconut Grove unit on Wednesday.

Another juror sat crying as evidence was heard.

Chief Justice Michael Grant told the jury the courts were “well aware of the potential traumatic effect” of exposure to evidence, but they could only be released from their civic duty if they were “incapacitated”.

Counselling would be available to the jurors during and after the trial.