Killer’s criminal history revealed

THE horrific criminal history of a 32-year-old Kowanyama man has been detailed in court, after the jury in his murder trial was discharged having been unable to agree on a verdict.

It was the second time this year a jury was unable to deliver a verdict over the killing of 27-year-old Juanita Paul.

Lenfred Leighwayne Tommy pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty to manslaughter at the start of his trial on Monday.

His plea was not accepted by the Crown, who through the trial sought to prove he intended to cause grievous bodily harm to his long-term partner, Ms Paul, when he stabbed her numerous times in the early hours of June 27, 2019 after she refused to join him for a drink.

Defence barrister Michael Dalton submitted that Tommy had a brain impairment and was intoxicated at the time, which led to “a momentary explosion” rather than a “direct and focused goal-orientated attack”.

The most significant knife wound perforated Ms Paul’s left brachial vein and left brachial artery. She later died at the Kowanyama Primary Health Care Clinic from cardiac arrest as a result of blood loss.

The case wasn’t clear enough for the jury, who were eventually discharged about 2pm on Friday, having deliberated since Thursday afternoon.

Crown prosecutor Todd Fuller QC accepted a plea of guilty from Tommy to the charge of manslaughter.

Making submissions on penalty, Mr Fuller began detailing Tommy’s violent and depraved criminal history.

In August 2018, Tommy was convicted of assault occasioning bodily harm and contravening a domestic violence order after a verbal argument with Ms Paul.

He threw a slow cooker at her and punched her in the face, Mr Fuller told the court.

Then in 2016, Tommy was drinking with friends and asked Ms Paul for a cigarette, Mr Fuller told the court.

“She refused, and he punched her in the face and she walked away. He armed himself with a small knife and struck her in the neck and then in the back, and then three other people came to her assistance and he slashed each of them,” Mr Fuller said.

“He then got up and ran off with the knife.”

Mr Fuller tendered a victim impact statement from Ms Paul’s mother, Jeanette Paul.

In it, she described her sorrow at losing her youngest daughter: “I lost my father and my best friend in the last few years. But nothing compares to the pain of losing your own child.”

Justice Jim Henry adjourned sentencing to October, so he could have time to consider it appropriately.