Nelomie Perera’s estranged husband Dinush Kurera was waiting for her in the back garden, where we she was ambushed and murdered when she stepped out for a cigarette
With her husband away in Sri Lanka on business, Nelomie Perera was at their home in Melbourne, Australia, reeling from what she’d just discovered. While the man she was married to, Dinush Kurera, had been abroad for a few months looking into opening a hotel, he’d had an affair – and the betrayal hurt even more as Nelomie had already put up with so much.
The 43-year-old, who moved to Australia from Sri Lanka when she was 10, had three children – including a 17-year-old son and a 16-year-old daughter – with Kurera, who was also born in Sri Lanka. They’d been together over 20 years.
READ MORE: Evil mum shook her four-month-old baby girl to death and refused to stay at her bedside
But Nelomie had grown increasingly frightened of her husband’s temper. She was even seen with bruises, but insisted on staying in the relationship for the sake of her children.
After growing suspicious, Nelomie was told by several witnesses that Kurera had been seeing another woman during his frequent visits back to Sri Lanka. While he was still away, she decided to use the opportunity to finally leave him.
Nelomie took out a court order that stopped Kurera from entering the family home. She packed up his things and put them in a storage unit. She even sent him a message that read, “I want a divorce. I am not going to live my life afraid of you any more.”
Kurera denied the affair and said it was all “in her head”. It had been a courageous set of actions, but Nelomie had never felt so scared. She told the police she believed her husband was capable of killing her.
They helped her change the locks and gave her a personal safety watch, which is provided to those under threat of domestic violence. On 1 December 2022,Kurera flew back to Australia and at the airport he was handed the court order that stopped him going home. He was furious as he was given access to the storage unit that contained his belongings.
Two days later, on 3 December, Kurera went to a hardware store and bought a crowbar and an axe. Then he went to Nelomie’s home dressed in dark clothing and broke through the back fence with the crowbar.
He lay in wait for around an hour with the axe and a can of petrol. At 11pm, Nelomie went out on to the back patio for a cigarette and was ambushed by her estranged husband.
Her terrified screams were heard by her teenage children and when her daughter ran to help she found her mum on the kitchen floor with a head injury and her dad standing over her with an axe. The terrified youngster begged him to stop, but he grabbed a 30cm kitchen knife.
The daughter tried to wrestle the knife off him, but Kurera just went for Nelomie with the two weapons. Nelomie’s son ran in and bravely tried to intervene. When he tried to go and get help, Kurera chased him with the axe and hit him three times, on the head, shoulder and knee.
Both children said they were going to call the police and get an ambulance to save their mum, but Kurera said if they did, he would pour petrol everywhere and set fire to the house, killing them all. He continued to strike Nelomie with the axe and stab her in the neck and upper body. The attack lasted around 14 minutes and Nelomie’s safety watch recorded her last moments. Her final tragic words to her daughter were, “I’m dead.”
As Kurera ran to the bathroom, after soiling himself, the children raced to get help from the neighbours. The daughter banged on a door and harrowing CCTV footage recorded her shouting, “Dad’s killing Mum… I’m pretty sure she’s dead.” When the emergency services arrived, Kurera told them he’d killed his wife. She was found in a pool of blood and couldn’t be saved. She had 35 separate injuries to her head, face, neck, arms and abdomen.
When questioned by the police, Kurera said he’d killed Nelomie because she’d attacked him and claimed it was self-defence, but when examined, he had no injuries. He also claimed he could remember a lot of what happened.
Kurera insisted he’d gone to the house because he wanted to see his children and fill up an empty petrol tank of a Ducati motorcycle that was at the property. He denied going there to hurt Nelomie –despite purchasing a new black outfit, the crowbar, an axe and fuel earlier that day.
At the trial in 2024, Kurera admitted he’d killed his wife but denied it was murder, which forced his children to take the stand and testify about the brutal killing. They had to describe begging their father to stop and how they couldn’t save their mum.
Kurera testified that he’d acted in self-defence after Nelomie had attacked him with a knife and “bit his finger” during an argument. He said he was scared so he’d grabbed an axe and hit her but only “a couple of times”.
The prosecution said Kurera killed his wife because she was trying to leave him. Witnesses shared how 10 years before her death, Kurera had allegedly attacked Nelomie.
She’d fled to her parents’ home with her children in 2013, saying Kurera had hit her with a hammer and stomped on her. She had bruises and struggled to walk. Her family begged her to leave him, but she said she had to stay because of the kids.
The court heard Nelomie made 19 cries for help that were recorded on her safety watch as she lay bleeding to death. Kurera’s lack of remorse was shocking. He’d been recorded on prison phone calls saying, “She deserved this” and, “Look what she made me do.”
After a four-week trial, it took the jury just three hours to find Kurera guilty of murder and guilty of attacking his son. At a pre-sentencing hearing, victim statements were read out on behalf of Nelomie’s children.
Her daughter, now 18, said she struggled to sleep or feel safe. “What happened will forever haunt me,” her statement said. “Having that image of my mother in her last moments will always be in the back of my mind.”
She added her mum was her best friend and described how upsetting it was not to have her there for special life moments, like her recent Year 12 graduation. Kurera leaned back in his chair with his arms folded and smiled as he listened to the statement. He kept smiling as his son’s statement was read.
The teen, now 19, revealed he no longer wanted children, saying, “I was always told my whole life that I was like my father. I’m afraid if I have children I would treat them the same way. He is not my dad any more– he’s just another person.”
The judge noted there were 27 victim impact statements submitted to the court– none were on Kurera’s behalf. In December 2024, the 47-year-old was sentenced to 37 years in prison – 36 years for Nelomie and a year for his son. He’ll be eligible for parole in 30 years. The judge said the attack was horrific and spoke about the loved ones who felt like they’d failed Nelomie.
“They did everything they could,” she told Kurera. “No one but you is to blame for her death.”
