‘Abominable, unforgivable’: Man jailed for brutal Mindil Beach manslaughter

‘I just wonder how much longer women in and from Aboriginal communities have to put up with behaviour like yours — why do they deserve to be the victims of such atrocious actions?’

“I JUST wonder how much longer women in and from Aboriginal communities have to put up with behaviour like yours — why do they deserve to be the victims of such atrocious actions like yours?”

Justice Jenny Blokland’s question hung in the air in the Supreme Court on Thursday as she sentenced 40-year-old Garsek Nawirridj for the cruel and brutal manslaughter of his partner on Mindil Beach in 2019.

“Your behaviour is abominable, it is unforgivable,” she said.

Nawirridj had earlier pleaded guilty to beating the woman to death in a violent rage which closed the final chapter on a relationship characterised by the use of violence “to control or overbear her will”.

The court heard Nawirridj dragged the woman he claimed to love off the street and into a secluded area near the beach where, two days before Christmas, her hours long ordeal began in earnest.

“During the course of the next 25 minutes, you assaulted the deceased, she screamed and moaned, her blood was found, later, splattered across trees and on the ground,” Justice Blokland said.

The woman would go on to slip in and out of consciousness as Nawirridj continued to beat her before removing her clothes and dragging her across the bloodstained beach and in and out of the sandy water.

The court heard that when the consequences of his mindless tantrum started to set in, Nawirridj flagged down passers by, saying “My wife got drowned, can you help me out, call the ambulance”.

But it was too late.

“The level and spread of injuries demonstrate a level of cruelty, you showed her no mercy,” Justice Blokland said.

“This must have been like a form of ongoing torture for the deceased because of the time and the pain involved in the various types of assault.

“All because you have something deeply embedded in your personality that makes you want to control your domestic partner and, in this case, punish them when you cannot coerce them into doing what you want.”

In handing Nawirridj a 12-year jail sentence over the senseless killing, Justice Blokland acknowledged the apparent futility of seeking to answer the question she posed through the courts.

“This is yet another case of an Aboriginal woman being killed by her partner, who in the lead up to the offending, has manifested a controlling nature — it is difficult to know why (and) it is difficult to see how your attitude to women and relationships will be changed,” she said.

“With the incarceration rate of Aboriginal people being so high and previous sentences of imprisonment, in this case and other like cases, not appearing to reduce the rates of violence to women, it is to some extent regrettable that the only option is for time in prison, but in this case it really is the only option.

“This time you killed her, you do not deserve to walk among us for some time.”

Nawirridj also pleaded guilty to setting fire to his partner’s car and threatening to torch a petrol station on the same day and will be eligible for parole in eight years.

Originally published as ‘Abominable, unforgivable’: Man jailed for brutal Mindil Beach manslaughter