Man described as ‘a kid in an adult’s body’ guilty of murder after stabbing partner in heart

In running the partial defence of diminished responsibility, Warren Dhamarrandji’s barrister Phillip Boulten SC has argued his client is ‘not like other DV offenders’.

Warren Dhamarrandji has been found guilty of murdering his partner.

A man who stabbed his partner in the heart as part of an escalating series of domestic assaults is now facing a mandatory life sentence after being found guilty of her murder.

Warren Dhamarrandji, 39, pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to murder ahead of his trial in the Supreme Court in Darwin earlier this month.

In running the partial defence of diminished responsibility, Dhamarrandji’s barrister Phillip Boulten SC had argued his client was “a kid in an adult’s body”.

“He was not like the vast majority of domestic violence offenders, he was not in control in the same way that those vast majority of offenders are in control,” he said.

“He would snap, he would lose it in situations where he was distressed and where he was angry and where he was emotionally overwhelmed.

“But whereas others have a great ability to know that they can’t act on these emotions, he did not have the same capacity to check himself.”

But in finding him guilty of wilful murder, the jury accepted the Crown’s submission that he “knew what he was doing”.

“The accused tracked the deceased down and confronted her about whether she still intended to leave him,” Director of Public Prosecutions Lloyd Babb SC said in his closing address.

“And after the deceased confirmed that she was leaving the accused, he produced a large knife — instantaneously — and proceeded to violently attack her, stabbing her nine times.

“The attack was ferocious — and we know that — the track mark in the back was 12cm long, the penetrating wound to the chest went through bone and into the right ventricle of the heart.”

Dhamarrandji will return to court for sentencing on March 25.