Darwin woman charged with murder over death of vile rapist Ethan Anzac

A Darwin woman has been charged with murdering her abusive partner after allegedly stabbing him in the legs, as part of an extraordinary escalation of the NT’s domestic violence crisis.

Convicted rapist and violent abuser Ethan Anzac was allegedly stabbed to death by his partner Maria Jimmy. Picture: Facebook

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A Darwin woman has been charged with murdering her abusive partner after allegedly stabbing him in the legs, as part of an extraordinary escalation of the Northern Territory’s domestic violence crisis.

Maria Jimmy, 31, faced ­Darwin Local Court on Monday after being charged with the murder of her partner, Ethan Anzac, who had a violent history of crimes against women and was once branded a “bully and a coward” by a judge when he was being sentenced for rape.

Police will allege Ms Jimmy, who has no prior criminal ­history, stabbed the 33-year-old twice in the back of his legs while in the presence of others in a suburb north of Darwin CBD on ­Friday night, causing him to bleed to death.

Sources say she cooperated with police after being arrested at the scene, but police have no reliable witnesses due to the amount of alcohol consumed by those nearby.

Police believe Mr Anzac was in breach of a domestic violence order protecting Ms Jimmy at the time of his alleged murder, which restricted him from going near her while drunk or causing any harm to her. Mr Anzac, who had previously been sentenced to a six-year, non-parole period in prison for a brutal rape, was most ­recently in court on January 17 when he pleaded guilty to three counts of contravening a DVO and two counts of aggravated ­assault.

Mr Anzac was convicted in April 2014 of raping “a small ­defenceless” woman after she said she did not want to spend time with him.

The NT Supreme Court found Mr Anzac repeatedly punched the woman in her head and face, causing a 4cm laceration, before raping her for what she said was an hour-long ordeal as she bled from her face.

He took her to the shower and began to wash her, before the ­victim’s 12-year-old son entered the house.

Mr Anzac told the child to leave the home.

Later, the son tried breaking into the home with a shovel after Mr Anzac locked himself and the victim inside the home. She eventually was able to flee.

He was sentenced to a non-parole period of six years in prison, with the Supreme Court justice saying Mr Anzac did not express any remorse or concern for the victim.

However, at the time of the rape he was five months into a two-year suspended sentence for two separate violent attacks on the same victim.

In 2012, Mr Anzac, aged 21, _attacked the woman while drunk, knocking her to the ground and punching her in the face.

He kicked her in the back twice, and broke and dislocated her arm. A court found that when he was interviewed by police he lied, and said she fell back and twisted her arm.

In a separate alcohol-fuelled incident several months later, Mr Anzac abused his victim in a drunken and unprovoked tirade, pulling her out of a car and onto the ground. He punched her in the stomach and called her a “c..t” and a “slut”.

The court heard he showed no remorse until his conviction, but found his prospects of rehabilitation “remain reasonably good”.

He was sentenced to 21 months in prison, but was only required to serve two months before being allowed to continue serving his sentence in the community, during which period he committed the rape.

He was allowed to serve the majority of his sentence in the community on the condition that he be supervised by a probation and parole officer, enrol in a three-month residential rehabilitation course and after that enrol in a “male health” program. He was also banned from drinking alcohol and consuming illicit drugs for six months following his release.

Following his sentencing for the rape, Justice Graham Hiley said his prospects for rehabilitation were “poor”.

“The court must try to protect Aboriginal women in our community who should not have to put up with violent, cowardly attacks like this,” Justice Hiley said.

On Monday, NT police said there had been an “unprecedented” level of domestic violence over the weekend.

“The amount of trauma that’s being subjected to victims of domestic violence is not acceptable, it cannot be acceptable, the community must be outraged by what is happening at the moment,” Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst said. “Alcohol is a contributing factor in many of these incidents.”

“Clearly prison did nothing in terms of his rehabilitation,” said one police source of Mr Anzac.

If you know more about domestic violence in the Northern Territory email [e-mail] or message 0423 456 893 on Signal or WhatsApp.