A teenager who was allegedly killed by her partner had suffered a lengthy assault, from which she tried to defend herself, before a fatal blow to the head, a court has heard.
Michael Kurt Pringle was charged with murder over the death of his girlfriend, Krystle Monks, in Ipswich in 2023.
Pringle, who was 21 at the time of the offence, had his bail application refused by Justice Scott McLeod in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Wednesday.
Monks, 18, died in hospital the day after the alleged assault, the court heard.
Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane told the court Monk had suffered multiple injuries.
“There’s an injury to the right side of the head, and there’s been a blunt force injury to the left side of the head,” he said.
“There is still a combination … of injuries to the upper arms, the wrists, and even the fingers, which demonstrate there was a protracted assault.”
He said those injuries, which were defensive, were a circumstantial feature that indicated intention regarding the protracted assault.
“The arms, the upper arms, forearms, wrists, fingers, where there’s all bruising … is someone who has received multiple blows, but having the ability to deflect those, until a point where there’s a successfully severe blunt force trauma injury to the head, which ultimately caused the death of [Monks],” Crane said.
In applying for Pringle’s release, barrister Joseph Briggs, from Legal Aid Queensland, told the court that on the night in question, it would seem there was no immediate or visible evidence of what might be described as a protracted assault.
He said if Pringle were to be released from custody, he would submit to a range of monitoring conditions.
Briggs told the court there was no risk of Pringle fleeing because he would live with his sister in Ipswich, and would have nowhere else to go.
The court heard Pringle had been in custody since his arrest in 2023, and while he had a job in Richlands before the alleged killing, he would be on welfare payments if released while looking for a job.
Briggs said his client offered to speak with police voluntarily without a lawyer after his arrest.
In handing down his decision, McLeod accepted the prosecution’s submission regarding Pringle’s risk of failing to appear, and the proposed conditions would not ameliorate the risks.
McLeod said Pringle had also been convicted of breaching bail by failing to report.
McLeod refused his bail application. Pringle’s case remains before the court.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service (1800RESPECT) on 1800 737 732.
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