Errors and loopholes allowed NT man to drink and drive night he killed partner

Content warning: this article contains detailed descriptions of domestic violence.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers please note that this article mentions deceased persons.

An Alice Springs pokies executive told the coroner his club had “no requirement” to check if patrons buying booze in-house were on the banned alcohol registry, but his staff retained a right to remove banned drinkers if police turned up and identified them.

Gillen Club board member Kyle Pearson said it would be “problematic” and “quite time-consuming” to swipe the IDs of customers purchasing alcohol in-house the same way they are legally required to do for anyone buying takeaway liquor.

Northern Territory Coroner Elisabeth Armitage suggested all licensed premises be fitted with a reception that could give patrons colour-coded armbands according to alcohol eligibility: “For example, a yellow band if they’re able to purchase alcohol and a red band if they’re not able to purchase alcohol.”

“I would imagine that could be problematic with such a large venue,” Pearson said.

Peason appeared before the Alice Springs Local Court via video link on Thursday to give evidence about the Gillen Club’s policies, procedures and conduct on January 7 2021 when Kumarn Rubuntja and her partner, Malcolm Abbott, were evicted from the club hours before he killed her.

Rubuntja’s death is the focus of the fourth in a series of coronial inquests into domestic and family violence in the Northern Territory.

On the day of her death, Rubuntja and Abbott spent seven hours at the Gillen Club, during which it was reported they drank, played pokies and had a win before finally drawing the attention of security because Abbott became angry and aggressive.

“When he was yelling at the lady, did it look to you like he was trying to be hostile to her?” Phillip Boulten SC, the Rubuntja family’s lawyer, asked Gillen Club security guard Viliame Maivalenisau.

“Yes,” he replied.

“As the security guard, it was your job to keep everybody safe, wasn’t it?” Boulten said.

“Yes,” Maivalenisau responded, telling the inquest that Rubuntja had requested Abbott be removed because he was drunk and causing problems.

When asked to leave, Abbott threatened to get a gun and shoot Maivalenisau.

“I was jokingly telling him, ‘Remember if you bring your gun and you do it, if I don’t die, then it’s not good for you’,” Maivalenisau said, adding that he often uses this kind of language — “that I’m too big for you” — to help defuse volatile situations.

Abbott was shown the door and escorted outside, but refused to leave because he said Rubuntja had his car keys. At this point, then-Gillen Club supervisor Timothy Gray advised Maivalenisau to remove Rubuntja as well because Abbott was using her as an “excuse” to stick around.

“I noticed the evicted man was hanging around the entrance. So I suggested to the guard to have [Rubuntja] removed as she also appeared intoxicated and the man hanging around would only cause more problems to staff and other people inside the club,” Gray wrote in his statement.

He acknowledged in court that the club had a duty of care to ensure the safety of clientele leaving the premises, including intervention in obvious cases of drink driving.

“Malcolm Abbott was obviously over the limit when he was ejected from the club, wasn’t he?” Boulten asked Gray.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Even from the brief time that you could see him, you knew that man shouldn’t be driving, didn’t you?” Boulten continued.

“Yes,” Gray said, conceding to the court that he also had enough information to determine that Abbott was planning to get behind the wheel.

Maivalenisau told the inquest that it was not in his job description as a security guard to manage how members and patrons got home, to see whether they got in cars, or to keep order outside the club (in the carpark or on the footpath): “The only job that I can do in the carpark is sometimes go and check around the cars.”

“Were you concerned that he was going to drive his car when he was drunk?” Special Counsel assisting the Coroner Dr Peggy Dwyer asked Maivalenisau.

“I wasn’t contemplating that much,” he said. ­­

A few hours after the couple left the club by car, Abbott killed Rubuntja by repeatedly driving at and over her in front of the Alice Springs Hospital. A toxicology report post-death found Rubuntja had a blood alcohol reading of 0.21%, and breath analysis of Abbott at the time of arrest registered 0.181%.

Abbott was meant to be listed on the NT’s banned drinking registry, but Territory Families (responsible for referrals) put forward the wrong name. The inquest heard that even if his name had been on the registry, Abbott was still in a position to purchase drinks from the Gillen Club because of loopholes that did not require ID checks for anything other than takeaway alcohol.

Pearson told the inquest that the Gillen Club had “pretty much straight away” conducted a review into its handling of the incident, although this had been done by the general manager and nothing had been written down. When asked how he knew a review had been conducted without written documentation, Pearson said the general manager told him in a text message.

The text was dated August 24 2023 (the same day Pearson gave evidence to the inquest) and was said to say: “We always call police now for any domestic violence related issues and try our best to distance those involved. Also the policies have been updated to include cultural awareness training.”

“I texted him today and asked him about it,” Pearson said, adding that it was “hard to say” whether his club handled the incident correctly. He reiterated that all procedures that played out “were the ones that were required to happen”.

“Was there anything for you to regret here or not?” Boulten asked Pearson.

“Personally, I regret that a lady has died,” he said.

“Yea, we all do. But what about the contribution of the club?” Boulten continued.

“I don’t know if I can answer that,” Pearson said.

Dwyer suggested to Pearson that it was not good practice to hand car keys to a man who was heavily intoxicated and to make the woman he was being aggressive towards leave with him.

“It’s obvious that he’s going to drink-drive if he’s given the keys … and there’s an obvious risk, given that Kumarn has been subject to threats, that she might be assaulted if she leaves with him,” Dwyer said.

“She was murdered and he did drink-drive.”

While the inquest heard about the devastating impact that alcohol and gambling continue to have on Indigenous communities — acting as an accelerant to domestic and family violence — Pearson told the court that Gillen Club promotes “ample advertisement to encourage responsible gambling” alongside its 55 gaming machines (as advertised on its website).

Despite the high number of Indigenous patrons, he didn’t know if any of this material was available in any language other than English.

If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault or violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.

If you or someone you know is affected by alcohol or gambling addiction, call Gambler’s Help on 1800 858 858.