‘Cold blooded deviant’ walked free, killed partner in Northern Territory

NT’s Chief Justice said the man had no prospects of rehabilitation after three decades of horrific abuse of women — then handed him a sentence so light it shocked DV advocates.

A man described by NT Supreme Court Justice Michael Grant as a ‘cold-blooded deviant’ has been charged with murder after his release from prison less than a year ago. Picture: Jason Walls

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

NT Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Grant in 2019 declared the “cold-blooded deviant” had no real prospects of rehabilitation and an “appalling record of violence against women”, but sentenced him to just five years’ non-parole following the 2018 attack in which he stabbed the victim and cut her achilles tendon with the intent of severely disabling her.

The maximum sentence available to Chief Justice Grant was 14 years’ jail.

The sentence shocked anti-domestic violence advocates, who say there needs to be a greater focus on victim-survivors, with one questioning whether the victim would still be alive had a longer term been imposed.

The man, who cannot be named because he is before the courts on the murder charge, has a lengthy criminal history dating back to the mid-1980s, and violent offences involving weapons – including rocks, knives and firewood – against women since 1994.

In sentencing for the 2018 violent assault, in which the victim sustained injuries to her face and lacerations to each thigh and achilles tendon, Chief Justice Grant said the man showed no remorse and had a “appalling record of violence against women” and no real prospects of rehabilitation.

In describing the offending, he said the man’s intent was to ­“severely disable” his victim.

“You then grabbed her, held her down, and deliberately and purposefully cut through her achilles tendon. You then stabbed the victim to the back and front of her thighs, causing the tran­section of one of the hamstring muscles,” he said.

“You attempted to stab her more times but she managed to evade you. You then lay down beside her and at some later point, without warning, elbowed her in the face with force.

“At no stage did the victim engage in threatening behaviours towards you to make you do what you did.”

The remarks were not dissimilar to those in a 2005 case where the man was told by a sentencing judge that he had not learnt that violence would lead to jail, and that he had not been deterred from violent conduct.

In previous cases the man was given “another chance” to show he could “get over … alcohol problems” and “control his temper”.

In May 2012, he was drinking with the same victim at a dam and accused her of stealing his wine, after which he hit her on the head and knees with a rock, twisted her arm with force, punched her in the face and hit her with a stick and a frying pan, leaving her bleeding heavily in a semiconscious state before going to sleep.

In December 2014 when he was refused sex by the victim, he kicked her in the ribs, grabbed her by the throat and punched her in the face before dragging her into a ditch and continuing to punch her in the face with his hands and a rock while holding her hair, before forcing her head into a puddle of water.

Chief Justice Michael Grant told the offender “your prospects for rehabilitation must be considered … exhausted”. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

He has 11 other convictions for violent assaults – many on females – dating back to the mid-1990s. There are convictions for grievous harm, a conviction for assaulting police, three convictions for resisting police, one for possessing a prohibited weapon, two for possessing a dangerous drug, four for escaping lawful custody, three for stealing and two for criminal deception.

“Your prospects for rehabilitation must be considered … exhausted,” Chief Justice Grant said in April 2019. “You are not entitled to be treated with the leniency that would be given to a first offender, and given that you were approximately 50 years of age at the time of this offending, you are certainly not entitled to the leniency which might otherwise be extended to a young offender.

“I must approach this sentencing on the basis that you are a man of settled and entrenched criminal propensities, particularly in relation to the infliction of violence on vulnerable women.”

Caitlin Weatherby-Fell, chief executive of Top End Women’s Legal Service, said courts needed to “elevate” the safety of victim-survivors in domestic, family and sexual violence matters.

Referring to legislation passed in late 2023, Ana Aitcheson, operations manager at Darwin domestic violence shelter Dawn House said there was a commitment to “greater and more consistent offender accountability … I can’t help but think if this was in place when he was first sentenced, we may have been able to prevent another devastating death.”

Chief Justice Grant was contacted for comment.