Clifford Warrior, brother of Charlene Warrior, faces sentencing submissions for violent home invasion

The brother of Charlene Warrior ramped up his drug use and committed a violent home invasion after there were no answers into how his sister was left dead in plain sight.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story contains images and voices of people who have died.

A man has blamed an increase in drug use – aggravated by the mysterious death of his sister – as the catalyst for a violent home invasion, a court has heard.

Clifford Allan Wayne Warrior, 38, faced sentencing submissions in the District Court after his lawyer said he turned to poor coping mechanisms in the wake of the tragedy.

Warrior pleaded guilty to breaking into a North Adelaide home last May and assaulting the occupant before stealing his car keys and taking his white Mazda CX5.

His sister Charlene was found in a tree in plain sight in the small Yorke Peninsula town of Bute on October 3, 2019, just 100m from where she was last seen and in full view of the town’s search site.

Charlene, who was 21 when she died, had gone to Bute – about 90 minutes north of Adelaide – to pick up her one-year-old daughter from the home of her ex-partner when she vanished about eight days into the trip.

Clifford Warrior (middle) with other family members outside their Seaton home. Picture: Kathryn Bermingham

Clifford Warrior was denied home detention bail. Photo: Facebook

Charlene Warrior. Picture: Facebook

Charlene was one of six Aboriginal women whose stories were investigated by The Advertiser in Dying Rose, a podcast in which their families question whether police properly responded to their deaths.

Rachel Regester told the District Court last week her client’s drug use ramped up in the lead up to the offending and he had not slept in days.

“Mr Warrior is a man that has a longstanding drug addiction, which unfortunately in recent years, has been aggravated by tragic circumstances, such as the inquest into his sister’s passing and also the anniversary of his son’s passing,” she said.

Ms Regester said Warrior struggled having no clear answers in Charlene’s death and began using drugs to cope but now felt real shame for his actions.

A prosecutor told the court Warrior told a psychologist he ducked into the North Adelaide address due to paranoid thoughts, which she said wasn’t entirely consistent with the witness statement.

Warrior, who is being held in custody, will be sentenced next month.

Originally published as Clifford Warrior, brother of Charlene Warrior, faces sentencing submissions for violent home invasion