A young woman was threatened with death weeks before she was fatally stabbed by her partner in Sydney’s west, a Sydney court has heard.
The New South Wales Supreme Court was told that Nunia Kurualeba, 21, had been warned by her partner Jeremaia Tuwai that he would one day kill her.
“One day, I will kill you,” Tuwai allegedly told Ms Kurualeba in the weeks leading up to the attack.
Prosecutors said the threats escalated shortly before the killing on July 8, 2024, at a home in Kingswood, where Tuwai dragged Ms Kurualeba into her bedroom and fatally stabbed her with a knife he had hidden under her pillow.
The court heard that the day before the murder, Tuwai told Ms Kurualeba to “start saying goodbye to your family”. He also allegedly told her cousin: “Tell that girl I will suicide her.”
Tuwai, who was 22 at the time, has admitted to murdering Ms Kurualeba and told police he was driven by “anger and jealousy.”
Following the attack, he was arrested later that same day at another address in Kingswood.
During police interviews, Tuwai said the couple had argued and he stabbed her because he was “so angry”. He also claimed he had seen Ms Kurualeba speaking with other men on Facebook, which fuelled his jealousy.
When asked why he grabbed the knife, Tuwai reportedly told police: “I want to end her life there.”
Crown prosecutor Nicholas Marney described the couple’s relationship as volatile and marked by violence, threats and controlling behaviour.
“Ms Kurualeba’s murder was motivated by an offender who was angry, who was jealous and who was unwilling to accept the deceased’s right to decide her own future,” Mr Marney told the court.
“That included, of course, a future without him.”
Defence lawyer Antony Evers told the court that Tuwai had experienced a difficult and violent upbringing. However, the prosecution argued that while this background might provide some context, it did not mitigate the seriousness of the crime.
Tuwai is expected to be sentenced on March 20.
