Homicide offences are among the most serious under NT law, often attracting life imprisonment. These cases require experienced, strategic, and fearless representation.
Our expertise in homicide includes (but is not limited to)
- Murder
- Manslaughter
- Attempted murder
- Dangerous act causing death
- Self-defence or accident claims
- Unlawful killing
Hubber Legal brings extensive courtroom experience to murder, manslaughter, and related matters. We carefully analyse forensic evidence, witness statements, and police conduct to build a robust defence. We also explore available defences such as self-defence, accident, provocation, or lack of intent.
We support clients through every stage, from police interviews and bail applications to Supreme Court trials, ensuring procedural fairness and the strongest possible defence.
If a family member has been charged
The person charged will be held in custody but they do have a right to apply for bail. It is important that a suspect or accused person speak to a lawyer before speaking to police. If someone asks to speak to a lawyer, police must facilitate that.
Get a lawyer involved immediately, and before any police interview. In homicide investigations the record of interview is frequently the most significant piece of evidence in the entire case.
The distinctions that decide these cases
Homicide charges turn on questions that sound technical but determine everything: what the accused intended, whether the death was caused by the act alleged, whether the person was acting in self-defence or under provocation, whether they were criminally responsible at the time, and whether a partial defence reduces murder to manslaughter.
The difference between murder and manslaughter is not the difference between a deliberate killing and an accidental one, and it is not something that can be assessed from the newspaper account. It requires the brief.
How these matters proceed
Homicide matters take a long time, frequently more than a year, sometimes considerably longer. The sequence generally runs: charge and remand, committal proceedings in the Local Court, indictment in the Supreme Court, pre-trial argument about the admissibility of evidence, then trial before a judge and jury.
Much of the real work happens before the trial. Applications about what evidence the jury will and will not hear routinely determine the outcome, and they are argued months in advance.
Expert evidence is usually central: forensic pathology, toxicology, DNA, crime scene reconstruction. Where the prosecution relies on experts, the defence often needs its own.
What we do
We conduct these matters ourselves and brief counsel where the case calls for it. We prepare the evidence, run the pre-trial applications, and take the time to properly instruct.