A man has admitted to the murder of an Adelaide mother-of-five whose death was one of several which prompted the state’s upcoming royal commission into family and domestic violence.
Clifford Neumann, 41, of Morphett Vale, pleaded guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday to murdering 39-year-old Victoria Ann Stewart last year.
Her identity was initially suppressed but prosecutors told the court today that the suppression was no longer required.
Ms Stewart was found unresponsive at a house on Wark Court at Morphett Vale in Adelaide’s south, where police were called just after 7pm on November 19.
At the time, police said the victim and the accused were known to each other.
Neumann had been due to appear in court today for a charge determination, but immediately pleaded guilty to murder.
He will next appear in the Supreme Court in July where the sentencing process will begin.
Neumann faces a mandatory life sentence, but his early plea means he could be eligible for a sentencing discount.
Ms Stewart was one of four women to die in separate and unrelated incidents across South Australia over the course of one week in November last year.
The deaths prompted public rallies and prominent calls for a royal commission to investigate gender-based violence in South Australia.
In December, the state government announced it had agreed to hold such an inquiry.
At the time, SA Premier Peter Malinauskas described domestic violence as a “particularly insidious” crime.
Former senator Natasha Stott Despoja has since been appointed to head South Australia’s Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence.
Yesterday, SA Police released crime statistics for the 12 months to March which revealed a 69 per cent spike in the murders reported in SA.
Police said domestic violence was among the factors that had contributed to that spike.
