A machete wielding man who allegedly raped a remote area nurse who was out walking her dogs before threatening to “cut your head off” will face justice in the Supreme Court. The 31-year-old, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, appeared in the Darwin Local Court for a committal proceeding charged with raping the 57-year-old woman in a remote community in January this year. Court documents reveal the woman left home for her regular morning walk around 6.30am on January 10 while unbeknown to her, the man allegedly “lay in the dense bush prying on the victim”. After confirming the woman was alone, prosecutors allege the man “leapt from the bush” armed with a machete and grabbed her, holding the knife up towards her and saying “I want a bit of you”. “The victim, in an attempt to calm the situation, said to the defendant ‘Hey mate, what are you doing? I’m an old nurse, I looked after (a local elder)’,” the documents read. “The defendant approached the victim and put the flat edge of the knife up to her neck before saying ‘I’m going to get that’.” The man then allegedly pushed her to the ground and raped her while she pleaded with him not to hurt her before he stood up, pointed the machete at her and said “You tell anyone and I will cut your head off”. The man has not entered a plea and will face the Supreme Court for a criminal call over on June 18.
