4 days ago
Man pleads guilty to partner's stabbing manslaughter outside Darwin hotel
A man who fatally stabbed his partner of 26 years outside a busy Darwin hotel in 2023 has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Dennis Naroldol, 58, appeared in the Northern Territory Supreme Court on Monday, more than two years since the incident unfolded on the steps of the DoubleTree by Hilton on Darwin's Esplanade.
The court heard Naroldol stabbed his 51-year-old partner once in the chest with a nine-centimetre knife after a drunken argument outside the hotel on April 14.
Crown prosecutor Tamara Grealy told the court the couple had been drinking in a group along with one of their five children before the fight broke out.
She said the woman was jabbing Naroldol with an umbrella as he lay intoxicated on the ground in front of the hotel doors.
After being helped to his feet by the hotel manager, Naroldol began thrusting a knife toward his partner's face and body while she swung the umbrella.
The court heard Naroldol then grabbed the umbrella with one hand while stabbing the victim in the chest with the other, piercing through her lung and into her heart.
"The deceased was immediately impacted by the blow and bent over, using the umbrella to prop herself up," Ms Grealy said.
The court heard the woman attempted to get help from a bystander in the hotel lobby before the manager arrived and started CPR.
She was rushed to hospital by paramedics for emergency surgery, but died in the operating theatre as a result of her injuries.
Ms Grealy said the entire incident was captured by the hotel's CCTV cameras, and police found Narodol laying on a park bench across from the hotel and arrested him.
She told the court there had previously been "volatility" in the couple's relationship and numerous domestic violence orders had been taken out to protect the woman in the years before her death.
She said Naroldol had also been convicted of assaulting his partner on multiple occasions since 1995 and his previous offending had involved the use of weapons, including knives.
Naroldol was remanded in custody and is due to return to court for sentencing submissions in August.
