Territory Stories

Coroners Act In the matter of the Coroner's Findings and Recommendations regarding the death of Ms Wendy Murphy and Ms Natalie McCormack dated 14 March 2017

Details:

Title

Coroners Act In the matter of the Coroner's Findings and Recommendations regarding the death of Ms Wendy Murphy and Ms Natalie McCormack dated 14 March 2017

Other title

Tabled Paper 242

Collection

Tabled Papers for 13th Assembly 2016 - 2020; Tabled Papers; ParliamentNT

Date

2017-03-16

Description

Deemed

Notes

Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory under Standing Order 240. Where copyright subsists with a third party it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.

Language

English

Subject

Tabled papers

File type

application/pdf

Use

Copyright

Copyright owner

See publication

License

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042

Parent handle

https://hdl.handle.net/10070/271492

Citation address

https://hdl.handle.net/10070/432582

Page content

where the blood was coming from. His final version was that she stabbed herself and he had pulled the knife out. 125. She had clearly fallen to the floor. When she was found by the paramedics she was lying on her back between the doorway and the side of the bed. 126. The Forensic Pathologist, Dr John Rutherford gave evidence that K wementyaye had bruises to the back of both hands. The bruises extended from the middle to the ring and little fingers. He said they were "fresh bruises". 127. They were in such a position that if her hands were held with the little fingers touching, palms facing inwards (perhaps covering her face) the bruises could have been caused by a single blow. 128. The Forensic Pathologist also provided evidence after looking at the medical records and scans of Mr Swan. Mr Swan had a broken hand. In his opinion the bone broken is consistent with having been occasioned due to a punch. Dr Rutherford described that presentation as being known as a "boxer's fracture". 129. Mr Swan did not draw attention to his hand until the day after he had been taken into custody. Photographs taken shortly after he was taken into custody do not show much swelling. But by the time he was taken to hospital the photographs show his hand to be quite swollen. 130. Dr Rutherford found that Kwementyaye had a stab wound 2.3cm wide and 8.5cm deep. The wound tracked horizontally through the "thigh medial to the femur in the sagittal plane and transected the femoral artery". 131. Dr Rutherford was of the opinion that due to there being a single stab wound it was less likely that Kwementyaye had inflicted the wound on 21