Darren Ashley trial: Accused murderer allegedly 'eaten up' by inability to control ex-partner.

By Kristy O’Brien.

An Alice Springs man accused of murdering his ex-partner was “eaten up inside” by his “inability to exert control over her”, a court has heard.

Darren Ashley has pleaded not guilty to murder but admitted he killed Kirsty Ashley in May 2012, arguing it was in self-defence.

On Tuesday, he was grilled about that claim when he gave evidence for second day at his trial in the Supreme Court in Darwin.

Prosecutor David Morters put to Ashley that he believed Kirsty had been having an affair for nine months.

But Ashley insisted there was no affair, just rumours.

He said “it was just a conversation starter” when he complained about the alleged affair to Kirsty, friends and later detectives.

He also denied his partner had ended their relationship by leaving him, telling the court the decision “was mutual” and that she still wanted to talk to him.

“We were living apart, that was it,” Ashely said.

“There were no dramas at all.”

He also sought to explain the 297 phone calls and texts he sent to Kirsty in the 19 days before her death.

He denied he was stalking her despite Kirsty’s family and friends testifying she had told them Ashely had been in her front yard, walking around the front of the house and waiting at work for her.

“You wanted to control her and you wanted to know where she was at every single point in the day, you are concerned she’s having an affair with another man … your inability to exert control over her is eating you up inside,” Mr Morters said.

Ashley said he left love poems for Kirsty at her house as a way “to calm her down”.

But Mr Morters said he was stalking her the day before she was killed.

“You got served with a [domestic violence] order the afternoon on the 14th May — that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, wasn’t it?” he said.

“I didn’t care and I didn’t read it,” Ashley responded.

He said Kirsty had invited him to the house the day she died, despite being granted a domestic violence order that ordered the pair have no contact.

Ashely also accused his daughter of lying when she testified that she heard a blood-curdling scream while on the phone to Kirsty around the time she was stabbed.

The trial continues.

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