54 court appearances in decade: Alice Springs mother latest victim allegedly killed by partner with significant DV history

An Alice Springs mother with a ‘very bright future’ is the latest woman to be allegedly killed at the hands of her partner, who has an extensive criminal history.

The mother of four and artist allegedly murdered by her partner in Alice Springs on Sunday. Picture: Supplied

A mother of four is the second woman in Alice Springs this year to be allegedly killed at the hands of her partner, who has an extensive criminal history in yet another case where a man accused of murder has a string of prior violent offences.

The 39-year-old was arrested by Territory police on Sunday morning at a town camp in the north of Alice Springs after allegedly killing his 41-year-old partner.

The Australian can reveal the man, who has not yet been charged, has multiple criminal convictions for breaching domestic violence orders, aggravated assault, breaching court orders, and fighting in a public place.

Most recently in March last year he was sentenced to a two-month jail sentence for breaching a domestic violence order, and in April 2021 a three-year domestic violence order was made by a Territory judge protecting the victim, which has since elapsed.

In the past decade he has faced court on at least 54 different occasions for offences including breach DVO offences, aggravated assault, breach of order, fighting in a public place, going armed in public.

A charge of choking, strangling or suffocating was withdrawn in 2021.

It is yet another example of a man before the courts in the Northern Territory who has been accused of killing a woman, while also having a significant violent criminal history resulting in jail time.

Northern Territory Police at the town camp north of Alice Springs on Sunday. Picture: Gera Kazakov

It comes less than a month after an Indigenous mother was allegedly killed at the hands of her husband following a hand sanitiser drinking session, which marked the first domestic violence-related death in Australia for 2025.

Last year, The Australian revealed horrific examples of domestic violence-related deaths involving alleged killers with lengthy criminal records in the Territory, with the latest death no exception – the accused is said to have a criminal record dating back to 1997 and a court-ordered good behaviour bond expiring in Nov­ember, which had been breached.

It comes as the Northern Territory Attorney-General in October vowed to review the Sentencing Act following a string of alleged DV murders in the Territory that were allegedly committed by men with violent criminal histories who could have still been in custody had they received lengthier sentences.

On Tuesday, Ms Boothby said she was “considering all aspects of legislation” available to prevent alleged DV murders in the Territory, which occur at the highest rate in the nation.

“The CLP government believes anyone found guilty of such offending must have serious consequences,“ Ms Boothby said.

In September a man who cut through his partner’s achilles tendon after a three-decade history of assaulting women was charged with murder after being released from prison less than a year prior, when he was sentenced to less than one-third of the maximum sentence by the Northern Territory’s chief justice.

In October it was a revealed a man alleged to have fatally stabbed his wife to death in the Territory had a violent history against women and in 2018 kicked his wife in the face and used a ‘nulla nulla’ to fracture her legs, resulting in her being flown to hospital.