And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease. "We've had to prioritise which of the women we can help and which we can't," Ms Ellis said.Bible, King James Version Bible, King James VersionĢKgs.1 Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. The head of the Women's Safety Services of Central Australia (WOSSCA), Larissa Ellis, became emotional in the witness box as she told the inquest her women's shelter, which has capacity for 31 women and children, is "always full" and doesn't have the funding required to keep up with demand. "It led me to prison, and I did some programs with Kunga Stopping The Violence and it helped me a lot and put me back on track." 'An impossible situation': women's shelter CEO gives evidence "I've also been through in the past and I have struggled," Margaret said. Rebecca told the coroner the abuse she had suffered from her ex-partner had stopped because he was now in jail, but that he had been in and out of custody throughout their relationship.Ĭounsel Assisting the Coroner, Peggy Dwyer, asked "what do you think might happen when he comes out of jail?"īoth women told the coroner they had also each been prosecuted as perpetrators of domestic violence, with Margaret explaining that she had been jailed for violence against a partner. "Where we can, we endeavour to adopt a more therapeutic approach to proceedings which might include being introduced to witnesses … sitting closer … or creating a more intimate seating situation, so that people have the confidence to tell us personal and difficult stories." "It can be very silencing coming into a courtroom like this, which is normally a criminal court, with which both women have their own experiences of … and it must be quite a lot to get your head around, that even though we're sitting in the same courtroom, this is a different process for a different purpose," Judge Armitage said. Judge Armitage gave the pair pseudonyms to protect their identity, and came off the bench as she heard the women's evidence, sitting closer to the witness box in an effort to make them more comfortable. I didn't want to see, I was crying and worried. "I heard stories that some people got burnt. In her statement to the court, Margaret described seeing "flames everywhere" and "black smoke". Ms Haywood and Dixon died from fatal burns they sustained in the fire at the Hidden Valley Town Camp. I didn't really want to go around and look at them because l was a bit frightened." "The man and the lady that were lying in the flames at the toilet door crawled to the front door and got themselves out. "When I ran into the house, I saw the man and the lady both laying on the ground outside the toilet door. I burnt my upper right arm and my hair as I ran through the flames," Rebecca said. "There was flames everywhere, I had to run through the flames to get into the kitchen. In a police statement tendered to the court, Rebecca said she had been sitting outside when she "heard a really loud bang" and grabbed a hose, before running inside. Margaret and Rebecca told the coroner that there had been several other people at the house at the time, including an elderly man and a toddler. Inside, Kumanjayi Dixon had poured fuel around himself and his partner, 34-year-old Kumanjayi Haywood, as she hid from him in a bathroom.Īt the inquest into their deaths, Coroner Elisabeth Armitage had previously heard Dixon had lit the fuel with a cigarette lighter, causing an explosion through the house and ultimately leaving himself and Ms Haywood with fatal burns. Margaret* and Rebecca* sat side-by-side in the witness box of the coroner's court on Wednesday as they spoke of watching flames engulf a home near Alice Springs in November 2021. This story also contains graphic details that some readers may find distressing. WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the names of Indigenous people who have died, used with the permission of their families.
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