Tag: N.T. Police

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.

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.