Photographs show horror woman endured as she hid from killer boyfriend

Warning: Graphic content

A woman “might have briefly thought she was safe” as she hid in a bathroom from her jealous boyfriend before he tore holes through the door and murdered her, motivated by an “ill-founded belief” that by serving customers in a restaurant she was being unfaithful, a judge has said.

Manthana “Nancy” Khantharat, 37, was killed by her boyfriend Natthawut “Nook” Tammajanta as a result of a “sustained assault” in their Shellharbour townhouse on the night of December 18, 2022.

Natthawut Tammajanta beat down the bathroom door to continue his fatal assault.

Crime scene photographs, obtained by the Herald, show the destruction Tammajanta left behind as he assaulted Khantharat across both floors of the home, including beating holes through an upstairs bathroom door while she hid inside.

The bathroom door after the attack.

Tammajanta, 29, told police his partner had gone into the bathroom and shut the door, and he pushed it with his shoulder because he had “wanted her to come back and sleep in the room”.

“The offender was able to break down the door to continue his attack,” Justice Natalie Adams said as she sentenced Tammajanta in the NSW Supreme Court in Wollongong on Wednesday.

The agreed facts state the pin on the door handle was left in a locked position and there was “significant damage to the door, showing evidence of multiple impacts from the exterior”.

The judge said Khantharat “managed to hide from the attack” and “might have briefly thought she was safe”, but her “final moments must have been terrifying”.

“He struck her repeatedly to her face and upper body … the deceased ultimately died of head injuries inflicted by the offender with his bare hands.”

Tammajanta had been due to face trial but pleaded guilty to domestic violence-related murder, on the basis he had intended to cause grievous bodily harm, rather than intended to kill.

He was jailed on Wednesday for a maximum of 23 years and four months, with a non-parole period of 16 years and four months.

Manthana Khantharat (left) with her sister Rudeemas and their parents, pictured together in June 2019.

Khantharat moved to Australia in 2019 and completed a certificate in childcare. She met Tammajanta, a chef, when she started working at a Thai restaurant in Sydney’s west in 2022.

The couple received a termination notice because Tammajanta was aggressive towards Khantharat as she served a customer, the agreed facts state, and they began working at a Shellharbour restaurant in November of that year.

“Staff at the restaurant observed the deceased seemed to be afraid of the offender, who would yell at her,” the judge said.

Adams said the dominant feature of the relatively short relationship was Tammajanta’s “irrational jealousy” and a desire to control his partner, and his “motive” for the attack was “an ill-founded belief that by serving customers in the restaurant she was somehow being unfaithful to the offender”.

The judge described it as a “brutal murder” of an intimate partner.

During the fatal assault, Khantharat also suffered fractures to her ribs and forearms and injuries to her neck after she was grabbed by the throat.

On the night, neighbours heard a man and woman shouting before a male voice yelled for help. Tammajanta also called colleagues from the restaurant, screaming “Nan dead” and “Nancy has died”.

Natthawut Tammajanta was sentenced on Wednesday for the murder of his girlfriend.Credit: Facebook

Police took photographs of Tammajanta’s swollen and bruised hands the next day. He claimed the injuries were “from his work”. Swabs taken from his hands matched Khantharat’s DNA.

During an interview with a forensic psychologist in July, Tammajanta said: “I am a jealous person.”

“He said that he had consumed two bottles of wine on the night of the offences. He said: ‘I was very drunk and tired. We had a big argument in the car’,” the psychologist said in a report to the court.

“He said that he could not recall exactly what they argued about, but said: ‘I was probably jealous of her serving the customers in the restaurant’.”

The psychologist said Tammajanta tended to say “we argued” rather than “more accurately that he accused the victim”, and downplayed the level of violence he had used.

The judge was not satisfied he had displayed any genuine remorse. She said Tammajanta needs to address his controlling behaviour, alcohol intake and their “lethal combination”.

In a victim impact statement, Khantharat’s younger sister Rudeemas Khuntaras said the family were “all struggling with intense grief and trying to come to terms with the fact that she’s gone”.

The judge said the grief expressed by Khantharat’s sister was “profound”.

“She was clearly loved by her family and friends and her death has clearly left a huge hole in their lives.”

Tammajanta has been in custody since the murder and will be eligible for parole in April 2039. The judge has acknowledged he will probably be deported to Thailand after his sentence.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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