Garsek Nawirridj’s bashed wife for three-hours in Mindil Beach killing

The family of a mother-of-two killed by her partner in horrific three-hour bashing have given an emotional tribute in their victim statement. WARNING: To Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders this includes images of the deceased.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are warned the following article contains images of the deceased.

UPDATE THURS: THE bright fabric of a mother-of-two’s floral dress was dumped in the surf in a “pathetic” attempt to cover up her brutal bashing in Darwin’s beach-side scrubland.

Prosecutor Tami Grealy told the Supreme Court that at the heart of the killing of a 40-year-old woman was the “dispassionate cruelty” of her domestic abuser.

Garsek Nawirridj, 40, appeared in the dock during the sentencing submissions hearing for the killing of his wife at Mindel Beach on December 23, 2019.

Ms Grealy said the three-hour torrent of violence and the burning of the woman’s belongings in a car fire were an expression of Nawirridj’s need to dominate his partner.

Family members of the deceased sat on the right of the courtroom, on the opposite side from the man who killed their loved one.

When CCTV footage of the assault was played some could not bring themselves to watch her final brutal moments and left the room, while others sat silently wiping away their tears as they watched Nawirridj drag her off the corner of Smith and Daly St, Darwin.

CCTV showed this first stage of the assault was in full view of fellow pedestrians, and passing cars, with no one intervening.

Holding the mother by her hair and T-shirt, he dragged her for more than a kilometre to Mindil Beach.

For 25 minutes Nawirridj assaulted her in a bushy, secluded area of the car park, leaving her blood splattered across the trees and ground.

Ms Grealy said a variety of weapons were used to inflict pain and degrade the woman, including stabbing her in the back of the leg and using her own dress to choke her. 

“One could easily imagine how painful it would have been,” Ms Grealy said.

“There was dispassionate cruelty on behalf of the offender.”

After beating her into unconsciousness Nawirridj dragged her body 70m down the beach slope, stripped her and pulled her body into the shallow waters.

Ms Grealy said this “particularly degrading act” of leaving her naked was used to hide his vicious attack, by pretending she drowned, while discarding one of the weapons, her own dress.

Nawirridj wailed and cried as police and paramedics performed CPR.

His senior counsel Marty Aust said Nawirridj was genuinely distressed as first responders tried to revive the unconscious mother.

“He did not want to get caught, but he did not want her to die,” Mr Aust said.

“All he did was break down and cry like a broken, devastated man who was grappling with the fact that he killed his wife.

She was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital, but later passed at 12.30am on Christmas Eve.

In victim impact statements her loved ones said their grief was hitting them hardest at a time meant to be about happiness and family.

“I am sad that my sister is gone now,” Karen Naroldol said.

“We are all still grieving for her. We keep on thinking about her especially at Christmas time because she was killed two days before Christmas Day.”

Her eldest sister Mary Malbiynga chose to remember her as a “humble and friendly” and “strong” woman.

“Everyone that knew her, they liked her because she was very friendly,” Ms Malbiynga said.

Ms Grealy said he had a history of abuse, and had told family members appealing for his to stop hitting her with “get f —ked she’s my wife”.

Ms Grealy said Nawirridj was a man who felt entitled to power over his partner as he saw fit, and was obsessed when she ran away from him after he burnt her car and belongings the day before. 

Andrea Gulaidjbari, who said the deceased was like a mother to her, described Nawirridj’s controlling behaviour.

“I remember Garsek is a very angry person and he would not let my mother come and sit with us. He wouldn’t let my mother sit with her two grand children,” she said in her victim impact statement.

Nawirridj was visibly uncomfortable as the CCTV footage of the assault was played in court, sitting with his arms crossed and at one point called over his lawyer to complain that one of the women was swearing and abusing him in an Indigenous language.

Mr Aust said despite a “very frail, pathetic” attempt to claim the woman had drowned, he quickly accepted responsibility for the fatal assault.

Nawirridj was arrested on January 3, 2020 and pleaded guilty to the arson, assault and manslaughter charges on May 18, 2020.

Eight days short of her two-year anniversary of her passing, Nawirridj is expected to be sentenced for her killing on Thursday December 16.

EARLIER, MONDAY: HOURS before a man beat his wife to death in beach scrubland he threatened to set himself and five others alight at a Darwin petrol station.

Family members watched in silence, their heads in their hands as Garsek Nawirridj, 40, sat in the dock of the Supreme Court on Monday.

The four women, and one man looked on as Nawirridj quietly admitted his guilt to the killing of a 40-year-old mother-of-two at Mindil Beach in 2019.

Her family asked for the woman’s name not to be used for cultural reasons.

Nawirridj did not look at the woman’s family as the horrific details of her death were read aloud.

Prosecutor Tami Grealy told the court the then 38-year-old man and 40-year-old woman, both from Gunbalanya in West Arnhem, had been in a relationship for five years.

Ms Grealy said Nawirridj used violence to control and overbear his wife.

The day of her killing Nawirridj set his wife’s newly purchased white Daihatsu on fire at 5am, December 23.

“I had an argument with my missus and she ran away from me and burnt her car,” Nawirridj told police.

“Look what I’ve done to my Christmas present.”

After talking to officers, Nawirridj wandered to the Puma Service Station where he started shouting at five people “you mob made me burn my car for nothing.”

After trying to fight one of the men Nawirridj grabbed a fuel pump in one hand and a lit flame in the other, yelling “I’m going to burn this thing and you will all die”.

Those near him began to shout, scream, and yelled at him to stop before he dropped the nozzle and walked away.

“I’m so sorry,” Nawirridj was heard repeating.

The mother-of-two told her friends later that day she was upset that Nawirridj had burnt her car, with all her clothes and belongings in it. She told her friends she did not want to see, or be with him that day.

Nawirridj’s attacks started again when he spotted his wife at the corner of Smith and Daly St, Darwin at 6.49pm.

CCTV footage showed the 38-year-old running towards her, grabbing her and repeatedly punching her and her friend in the ribs.

Police released these images during the investigation of the killing of a woman at Mindil Beach on December 23. Picture: PFES

“If you help your little sister I will kill the both of you,” he told the other woman.

Holding the mother by her hair and T-shirt, he dragged her for more than a kilometre to Mindil Beach.

For 25 minutes Nawirridj assaulted her, causing her to scream and moan while hidden in a bushy, secluded area of the car park.

Her blood was left splattered across the trees and ground.

Blood-stained sand was found at a bush camp where she was pulled to and abused again.

Police said the mother-of-two would have lost consciousness, forcing Nawirridj to drag her body for 70m down the sandy slopes to the water.

He then undressed her, dumped her in shallow waters and dragged her back on the wet sand before yelling out “my wife has drowned”.

Nawirridj wailed and cried as police and paramedics performed CPR until they felt her light pulse.

She was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital, but later passed at 12.30am on Christmas Eve.

Nawirridj initially told police he did not hit his wife, blaming her injuries on her own family.

On Thursday Nawirridj pleaded guilty to manslaughter before Justice Jenny Blokland.

He has previously pleaded guilty to arson and threatening arson.

The matter was adjourned to Thursday December 9.