Leeton crash: Dean Cluney hit with more domestic violence charges
EXCLUSIVE: Boyfriend accused of breaking into his partner’s home and threatening her shortly before she died in a horror car crash along with her two sons and cousin is hit with MORE disturbing charges after allegedly “having a teenage girl” strangled’
- WARNING: Contains images of deceased Indigenous people
- Tania Murphy died in a car accident with three children
- Her boyfriend Dean Cluney accused of stalking or harassment
- He has been hit with new charges over another incident
The friend of a mother who, along with her two sons and cousin, died in a horror crash shortly after allegedly “breaking into her house and threatening her” has been slapped with additional domestic violence charges.
Tania Murphy, 36, was driving on Research Road in Yanco, near Leeton in southern NSW, on April 4 when her car crashed into a telegraph pole and rolled off an embankment.
The mother of six and all of her passengers — her sons Nathaniel, 11, Jeremiah, 10, and 12-year-old cousin Malakai Murphy — died instantly.
Murphy’s partner Dean Cluney, 32, who also goes by the surname Ingram, was charged the following day with a string of domestic violence offenses that police say took place in the run-up to the tragedy.
Police announced on Thursday that Cluney, who has been in custody since his arrest, was accused of strangling a teenage girl about a month before the crash.
Tania Murphy (pictured, center), 36, was driving with her two sons and cousin when her car crashed into a telegraph pole and rolled into an embankment
Rescue workers at the scene of the tragic crash near Leeton on April 5
Police will claim they were called to a Yanco home on Cudgel Street – the same street where Ms Murphy lived – at around 12 noon on Thursday, March 9, after Cluney allegedly assaulted and threatened an 18-year-old girl.
After extensive investigations, detectives visited Cluney at the Junee Correctional Center on Wednesday and charged him with asphyxiation, assault and stalking.
He will appear in Griffith Local Court later on Thursday for both the new and existing charges.
Court documents previously obtained by Daily Mail Australia show that Cluney committed domestic violence at Mrs Murphy’s home sometime in the 10 minutes before she crashed her car 2 miles away.
Cluney was reported to have kicked down the back door of Mrs. Murphy’s home sometime between 11:09 and 11:20 p.m. on April 4 before stalking or attempting to intimidate his former partner and a young girl, believed to be a child.
He has been charged with two counts of stalking with intent to harm, and one count of aggravated burglary in connection with that alleged incident.
Dean Cluney (pictured) was jailed on additional charges on Wednesday
Nathaniel, 11, (left) and his brother Jeremiah, 10, (right) died in the crash with their mother, Tania Murphy, and her cousin Malakai Murphy
Cluney’s mother Wendy Chattaway, 50, was also arrested as part of the initial police investigation into the crash but was released without charge.
The quadruple fatality shocked the tight-knit community, and close friend Tania Ingram remembered Mrs. Murphy and the boys as “four shining stars.”
“I can still hear her infectious laugh – she just made you happy just by being around her,” Ms Ingram wrote at the time.
She just didn’t realize she deserved more and could do so much better than she had. What a sad, tragic loss. We struggle with the loss of such a beautiful woman and those beautiful, cheeky boys.’
Another friend said the impact of the four deaths would affect the community “for a very long time.”
“It’s just such devastation to so many people and for what? Like, why? It’s just not necessary,” they wrote.