‘Cruel and awful’ boiling water attack ‘provoked’ by homophobic taunts, court hears

A ‘CRUEL and awful’ boiling water attack that ‘dissolved away’ most of the skin on a woman’s face was provoked by homophobic ‘taunts’ against the alleged perpetrator, a court has heard

A “CRUEL and awful” boiling water attack that “dissolved away” most of the skin on a woman’s face was provoked by homophobic “taunts” against the alleged perpetrator, a court has heard.

Jarrison Ivan Lalara, 18, faced the Darwin Local Court on Thursday charged with intentionally causing serious harm after allegedly throwing the contents of a boiling kettle over the 32-year-old woman in The Narrows on March 6.

After viewing photographs of the woman’s injuries, judge Greg Cavanagh said he had “hardly ever seen a more cruel and awful assault on a woman” in more than two decades on the bench.

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But in applying for bail, Lalara’s lawyer Nicola MacCarron said her client was “a very vulnerable young man”.

“The offending occurred — it doesn’t justify it — in the context of extreme provocation and taunts about his sexuality,” she said.

“He would be very vulnerable in jail for those very reasons.”

Ms MacCarron said Lalara had only just turned 18 and wished to return to Groote Eylandt to live with his father.

“I realise I’m asking a lot but in the circumstances of this young man it is something I think is open for your honour to consider supervised bail,” she said.

“Mr Lalara says he will do whatever it takes, he will follow all the rules, he realises how serious it is.”

But in refusing bail, Mr Cavanagh said Lalara would be getting “a real long prison sentence” if found guilty, which was “an extremely big motivation for an 18-year-old not to turn up” at court.

Mr Cavanagh described the alleged attack as “perhaps the cruellest and most horrible incident of assault that I’ve seen in many years”.

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“He’s picked up a boiling grey kettle that was boiling away on the stove, approached the doorway of the unit and threw it all over (the victim), striking her on the face, chest and back and causing her intense pain,” he said.

“The photographs reveal that most of the skin on her face has dissolved away and in all the circumstances, given that narrative, in my view, he presents a real danger to the community.”

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