The Northern Territory Coroner, Elisabeth Armitage, has opened a series of inquests into the deaths of four Aboriginal women who were killed by their partners. The first day of hearings heard harrowing details of the death of Kumanjayi Haywood, who died in a house fire lit by her partner. The court heard that the violence against her had “escalated” over the years, with 40 reported incidents of domestic violence between Ms Haywood and her partner Kumanjayi Dixon throughout their 20-year relationship. The court also heard that the level of violence perpetrated by Mr Dixon had escalated throughout their relationship and that he exhibited “clearly recidivist, concerning and increasingly violent behaviour”.
Hours before her partner lit a house fire that ultimately claimed her life, Ms Haywood sent a series of text messages to a loved one, saying that she feared for her life. The fatal attack on November 5, 2021, at the Hidden Valley Town Camp on the outskirts of Alice Springs, was the culmination of years of domestic violence suffered by Ms Haywood at the hands of her partner.
Over six weeks of evidence, spread across six months, the court will examine each death separately, before two weeks of expert and institutional evidence is called in October to detail systemic issues in the Northern Territory’s response to domestic, family and sexual violence. The landmark series of inquests will examine the domestic violence deaths of four separate Aboriginal women.
In opening the inquest into the death of Ms Haywood and her partner Mr Dixon, Counsel Assisting the Coroner Peggy Dwyer described, in horrific detail, the incidents of domestic violence between Ms Haywood and Mr Dixon throughout their relationship. The court heard that without acknowledging all aspects of the violence it was “impossible to understand” the complexity of their relationship.
Dr Dwyer foreshadowed that the evidence throughout the inquest would show the relationship between Mr Dixon and Ms Haywood, at times, “should have prompted a referral to the Family Safety Framework”. The Family Safety Framework (FSF) was introduced by the NT government in 2012, and Dr Dwyer said it was developed to “coordinate a response to the scourge of family violence” in the territory. She told the coroner the FSF and other systems in place throughout the NT, including police and other departmental responses to domestic violence, would be examined throughout the inquest.
The coroner heard the effect that vicarious trauma had had on first responders would also be a focus. “Our systems have failed not only the victims [and] their families … but the systems have failed the individuals working in that environment as well,” Judge Armitage said.
Judge Armitage opened the inquest with a sobering series of statistics, telling the court that in the NT, “for the past 23 years, on average, more than three Aboriginal women have been killed” by either a current or former partner each year. “Every one of those deaths is preventable, but sadly the terrible, terrible carnage continues … we must not look away,” she said.
The inquest continues.