Peppimenarti teen Michael Singar jailed for 100+ days over false killing allegations

Shaking in his grandmother’s arms, a Territory teen told her: ‘Nan, I did something really bad’. Find out why it took eight months to clear his name.

Peppimenarti teenager Michael Singar had manslaughter charges dropped following a fatal crossbow shooting on September 13, 2022.

A Territory teenager who spent 109 days in prison falsely accused of killing another man has walked free.

Michael Singar was 18 years old when he became caught up in a violent, long-running family feud in the remote community of Peppimenarti, 330km southwest of Darwin.

The Palmerston boy was visiting his family in Peppimenarti when the latest bout of community unrest broke out.

Singar was with friends near the basketball court the night of September 13, 2022 when they heard the roar of a white troop carrier doing burnouts on the oval.

An hour later a large number of people from a rival family arrived at the oval armed with weapons and bright torches.

“Members of both sides exchanged insults and threats, and some persons fought … with makeshift weapons,” Crown prosecutor Marty Aust told the Darwin Local Court on Thursday.

The young men went to confront their rivals in the dark field.

Peppimenarti teenager Michael Singar had manslaughter charges dropped following a fatal crossbow shooting on September 13, 2022.

Singar had a longbow and a number of thin arrows while his co-accused Darius Millar allegedly picked up a black crossbow.

The 18-year-old pulled back the string, pointed the bow in the air and fired towards the rival group.

Millar also allegedly launched a crossbow bolt.

Mr Aust alleged the bolt — not the arrow — lodged into the chest of a 36-year-old man causing “catastrophic injuries”.

“The deceased grabbed his chest, and managed to walk a distance before collapsing on the ground,” Mr Aust said.

“People … immediately started screaming, wailing and crying.”

Both of the young men fled, with Singar running back to his grandmother’s home.

Embracing her teenage grandson, she felt him shaking as he told her: “Nan, I did something really bad. I think I shot someone with an arrow”.

His family told him to turn himself into the police, and he soon he was telling officers he was responsible for the fatal shot.

Michael Singar, 18, was previously charged with manslaughter and recklessly endangering life.

It is now alleged Millar’s bolt pierced the 36-year-old’s heart, with Singar’s black and orange arrow sailing 20m clear of the group — a fact that took investigators eight months to confirm before they dropped the manslaughter charge.

The teenager with a previously clean criminal history spent a total of 109 days on remand with the manslaughter charge hanging over his head.

Singar’s lawyer Erin Morton said even when he was granted bail, the young man had a difficult time facing the threat of revenge attacks from the grieving family.

“This was a very young man fearing payback,” Ms Morton said.

“On multiple occasions there have been people who have approached the bail address of Mr Singar and have threatened violence.”

She said in February Singar was hospitalised after a blow to the head, with his attackers also damaging property.

Ms Morton said the teenager was genuinely remorseful for his poor choices on the night of the riot.

“He thought his actions had resulted in the death of someone,” she said.

“The consequences to his family and himself have been very distressing for him.

“He wants to do better, and be better.”

She said the teenager had also learnt an important lesson in where his loyalties should lay, with his “allies” abandoning him.

“He has certainly experienced how short those loyalties can be,” Ms Morton said.

“At no time did anyone else who was there step forward to say in fact he was not the person involved.”

She said when faced with serious charges, the people behind him were his mother and partner — not the “young men stirring up trouble”.

Ms Morton said Singar planned to return to Country and live on an outstation at Palumpa, with his ultimate goal to become a ranger.

Judge Elizabeth Morris in her office in the Darwin Local Court. Picture: Che Chorley

Still wearing his ankle monitor, the now 19-year-old stood before Chief Judge Elizabeth Morris on Thursday to quietly enter his guilty plea to the lesser charges of recklessly endangering serious harm and bail breaches.

Singar was sentenced to 18 months in prison — nearly four of which he had already served — which was suspended for 18 months with time served.

“I think there’s a good chance you won’t get into any more trouble in the future,” Ms Morris told the young man.

But she warned him about allowing his family to “drag” him into any more disputes.

Darius Miller will return to the Darwin Local Court on August 2, charged with manslaughter, engaging in violent conduct, aggravated assault, property damage and recklessly endangering serious harm.