‘One day, I will kill you’: Jeremaia Tuwai’s horrific abuse before he murdered partner Nunia Kurualeba revealed
WARNING: Disturbing content
“One day I will kill you.”
These six words were spoken to Nunia Kurualeba, 21, by her partner, Jeremaia Tuwai, in the weeks before he dragged her into the bedroom under her shirt and killed her with a knife hidden under her pillow.
The day before he killed himself, Tuwai, who was 22 at the time, told him to “start saying goodbye to your family” and told his cousin to “tell that girl, I will kill her.”
Tuwai admitted killing Ms Kurualeba at Kingswood in Sydney’s west on July 8, 2024, telling police it was motivated by “anger and jealousy” and that he “wanted to end her life”, the court heard.
He will be sentenced at the end of this month.
The pair’s relationship was described by prosecutors as “volatile” and horrific details of his abuse have now been revealed in court documents filed with the court and seen by NewsWire.
Ms Kurualeba went to her sister’s house three times in the last week she was alive and said Tuwai punched her and said “one day I will kill you”. His brother told him to report the situation to the police.
‘Start saying goodbye to your family’
On July 6, explosions and sounds of fighting were heard from the couple’s bedroom; One of the housemates heard Ms Kurualeba’s cry for help.
Ms Kurualeba threw Tuwai out at around 3am the next day after he punched her in the head.
Tuwai texted him later that evening, telling him to “start saying goodbye to your family.”
“You’re a lesbian, I don’t want you because you left with other boys before me… Start saying goodbye to your family until we meet again,” she wrote.
Tuwai then told Ms Kurualeba’s cousin to “tell that girl I will kill her”.
Within 24 hours, Ms Kurualeba was dead, killed by Tuwai while trying to escape from his troops so he could return to Fiji.
Ms Kurualeba believed Tuwai would be at work when she went to the unit with her cousins to collect her belongings; His little sister was telling him, “Okay, but if something happens, call the police.”
One of his cousins told him to wait outside so he could check if it was safe to come in, but he quickly pointed out that Tuwai was inside.
The three ran out but Tuwai chased them and eventually caught up, grabbing Ms Kurualeba’s shirt and dragging her back into the unit.
“Jeremaia isn’t doing this,” said Ms Kurualeba, whose cousins begged her not to punch and telephoned a friend for help.
After Tuwai dragged her to the bedroom, she said “help me” when one of her cousins shouted at her to open the door.
Ms Kurualeba managed to open the door before Tuwai punched her in the head five times.
Her cousin pushed Tuwai but Tuwai stood up and grabbed the knife he had hidden under the pillow and pushed Ms Kurualeba’s cousin and stabbed Ms Kurualeba twice.
Tuwai raised the knife above his head again but his cousin struggled with him over the gun, before Tuwai ran away before one of Ms Kurualeba’s housemates grabbed the knife and threw it into another room.
Kurualeba, who said she heard about the pain and suffering her mother and sister experienced last week, could not be saved.
They said knowing that Ms Kurualeba’s life had ended violently had “disturbed” her family, whose nights were now “sleepless” and “filled with tears and nightmares”.
Killer motivated by ‘anger and jealousy’
Tuwai was arrested at another Kingswood address later the same day. He told police that he and Ms Kurualeba had a fight and he stabbed her because he was “so angry”.
He claimed he saw her talking to other men on Facebook and was motivated by “anger and jealousy”.
When asked why he grabbed the knife, Tuwai said: “I want to end his life there.”
Crown prosecutor Nicholas Marney described their relationship as “volatile”, marked by Tuwai’s pattern of violence, threats and control.
Mr Marney said at last week’s sentencing hearing: “(Ms Kurualeba’s murder) was committed by a criminal who was angry, jealous and unwilling to accept the deceased’s right to decide her own future. And that of course included a future without her.”
Tuwai’s lawyer, Antony Evers, told the court his client had a difficult and violent upbringing. Mr Marney said this “may provide some explanation” but did not provide any mitigation for murder.
