A punch-up between brothers has ended in tragedy, with one dead and the other set to remain in custody for now, after being denied bail.
Key points:
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Peter Kinthari’s brother had flown in from the remote community of Wadeye before the pair became entangled in a fight
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Judge David Woodroffe described the matter as “simply too serious” to allow for bail
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The court heard the accused would likely face family retribution while in prison
Peter Kinthari, a 39-year-old father-of-six, has been charged with a manslaughter after the death of his brother in the northern Darwin suburb of Jingili on Wednesday night.
Northern Territory Police have described the death as a “domestic violence incident”.
During a bail application on Friday afternoon, the court heard the brothers, who hailed from the remote community of Wadeye, had “engaged in a fair fight” during a prolonged drinking session.
Lawyer John Blackley, from the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, said the accused’s brother and his wife had “flown in from Wadeye that day”, before they met with their family members and started drinking heavily.
The two brothers began arguing, with witnesses alleging that verbal taunts soon spilled over into physical violence, with an ensuing altercation lasting at least two hours.
Mr Blackley said, at one stage, the fighting was interrupted by an “intermission” where “both the accused and the deceased were hugging each other and were in good spirits”.
Accused could face retribution in prison, court hears
The then escalated once more, with the court hearing allegations read by the prosecutor from a “sober, independent” eyewitness that the accused king had hit his brother to the face.
“I saw the father fellow [Peter Kinthari] absolutely belt the skinnier guy, knocking him from a standing position to the ground,” the witness statement read.
Crown prosecutor Marty Aust said the witness had watched the victim “completely out of it, sitting on the road by himself” when he was approached by his brother, who was yelling at him aggressively.
“I then saw the shorter, fatter bloke strike the skinnier bloke very, very hard. It was hard enough to send the skinny bloke flying backwards … it was so hard I immediately assumed he’d been kicked in the head,” the eyewitness statement said.
“It was a bit hard to see, but it could’ve been a very hard kick or punch to the face, chest, or guts.”
The court heard the 41-year-old brother, whose name is withheld for cultural reasons, is believed to have died from a ruptured pancreas, which the prosecution will allege was caused by blunt force trauma inflicted during the fight.
The defense team said questions remained over the cause of death, citing an incident where the victim fell over in the shower in the immediate wake of the punch-up.
Judge David Woodroffe described the death as a “tragic incident” but refused bail to the accused on the grounds that it was “simply too serious” to do so.
Mr Blackley, who had pushed for bail so his client could look after his children, including two infants, said there was a chance Mr Kinthari would face threats of retribution from family members while on remand.
The accused will next face court in Darwin on September 28.
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