Details of 'toxic' relationship before attempted murder-suicide laid bare at coronial inquest

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2 days ago

The Northern Territory coroner has heard a young mother "was crying out to police" for help in the lead-up to a horrific attempted murder-suicide in Darwin two years ago.
Warning: This story contains graphic details of intimate partner violence.
NT Coroner Elisabeth Armitage is investigating the circumstances of the death of Ralph Donald, who took his own life in the front yard of his house in Millner on October 3, 2023 after shooting his former partner Eileen Gibbons.
Ms Gibbons was seriously injured in the attack but survived.
In a packed court room on Monday, Donald's family was brought to tears as the details of that afternoon two years ago were laid bare on the first day of the inquest.
In her opening statement, counsel assisting the coroner Peggy Dwyer told the court in the weeks before the tragedy, the 35-year-old had been "spiralling" over his recent break-up with Ms Gibbons and feeling "isolated and distressed".
Ms Gibbons said that although Donald was a heavy drinker with anger issues and had become increasingly controlling and "toxic" — including locking her in the house — he had "never laid a hand on her" and she did not believe he ever would.
But on the evening of October 3, 2023, while Ms Gibbons was visiting her former partner's house to retrieve items for their 11-month-old daughter, Donald walked into the front yard with one of his three rifles and shot Ms Gibbons in the stomach, before taking his own life.
"He got approximately 2 metres from her and said, 'do you want to die' while holding up the firearm," Dr Dwyer said.
She said Ms Gibbons, fearing for her life, had turned to run away, but fell to the ground.
Donald's mother had been watering plants in the garden, and his brother Charles, on hearing the gunshot, ran out.
"Seeing that she was bleeding from the stomach area … in what is an act of enormous bravery, Charles then stood between Eileen and [Donald]," Ms Dwyer said.
"He didn't think [Donald] would shoot him when he saw [Donald] beginning to reload the firearm.
Dr Dwyer said Ms Gibbons was seriously wounded in the attack and still struggled with her injuries.
Ms Gibbons gave evidence on the first day of the inquest via video link from Ireland.
The coroner heard she had come to Australia from Ireland in her twenties, with a degree in social work, seeking adventure and a "new life".
In 2019, she was working as a case worker at the Salvation Army when Donald joined her program to tackle his alcohol problem.
Ms Gibbons told the court the attraction was immediate and she quickly requested to be taken off his case.
Soon after she left the job, they started a relationship.
Ms Gibbons told the court there had been red flags from the beginning, but after their baby was born in 2022, the relationship took a turn.
"It was toxic," she said.
"He was quite stressed … he didn't have coping skills."
The coroner heard Donald was working as a tyre fitter and was beginning an apprenticeship at the time of his death.
However, Ms Gibbons said the couple were under significant financial stress, with their mortgage having risen three times, and that things "really escalated in the last year".
The coroner heard that in the six months leading up to the incident, police were called five times in response to reports Donald was stalking her, locking her inside the house and preventing her from leaving.
Another report was made by Donald himself, and his brother also made one when an argument broke out between the couple.
The court heard NT police officers followed up on the calls a number of times and offered further referral support, but failed to see the warning signs.
One police officer who assisted Ms Gibbons in 2023, who cannot be named due to a suppression order, testified that while she told him about Donald's aggressive and controlling behaviour he did not identify any immediate red flags.
He said because there was no history of physical violence, a domestic violence order was not applicable at the time.
However, the officer told the court that after undertaking Prevent, Assist, Respond training (PARt) — an educational program that discusses coercive control — he had a better understanding of the signs, and in hindsight would have done things differently.
Over the next two weeks, the NT coroner will probe two separate cases of intimate partner violence deaths that fall outside the usual statistics, including that of Donald.
This is the first domestic violence inquest to be held since Ms Armitage handed down her findings and recommendations in November from a landmark inquest into the deaths of four Aboriginal women.
The NT has the highest rates of domestic, family and sexual violence in the country, and among the highest rates in the world, with the rate of intimate partner homicide seven times that of the national average.
On Monday, Dr Dwyer told the court that in the two years since the inquest started, 13 more women had died by intimate partner violence.
Dr Dwyer also told the court the way domestic and family violence deaths were currently being recorded "may shield us from the true numbers".
The NT coroner's office uses a nationally-recognised definition of domestic violence deaths, which only includes cases where the victim was killed by a current or former partner.
Dr Dwyer said that definition excluded many other scenarios, including Donald's death, and should be changed to "capture the true nature of the problem".
The inquest into Donald's death is expected to run until Friday and hear from police officers, family members and domestic violence service workers.