An occult and conspiracy theory podcaster will spend at least 18 years in prison for murdering his girlfriend at her home in the riverside Perth suburb of Bassendean last year.
Tobias Nuttall, 33, was the co-host of the Waking World podcast, which covered “the occult, magick, spirituality, and everything clandestine”.
He’s also the son of a Perth GP who made headlines in 2017 after he was suspended following the death of a patient.
On Thursday, he was sentenced for the murder of his partner, Alisha Lauren Hendren-Krippner, who was killed on August 20 last year moments after the pair returned from a trip to Sydney.
Nuttall claimed they had both been taking methamphetamines on the morning of their flight home to Perth and were coming down off the drug when an argument erupted.
He claims Hendren-Krippner flew into a rage and stabbed him first with a knife in his back, but state prosecutors refuted that version of events.
What isn’t in dispute is that Nuttall then launched into a savage attack upon the 30-year-old woman, who he had only dated for six months, killing her.
Hendren-Krippner died from multiple stab wounds to her neck and torso at the Bassendean rental she shared with two housemates.
During Nuttall’s sentencing on Thursday, the WA Supreme Court was told Hendren-Krippner had known him for a year but only struck up a romantic relationship with him six months before her death.
Nuttall claimed their relationship moved quickly and the two were engaged, but that it was also unstable and marred by coercive control and violence from Hendren-Krippner towards him.
Their friends and family say they never saw any evidence of violence, but Nuttall claimed Hendren-Krippner was jealous, paranoid and a heavy drug user.
Nuttall’s own drug use was laid bare on Thursday, with evidence put before Justice Amanda Forrester that he used cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, benzodiazepines and cannabis, among other drugs.
The former Guildford Grammar student told psychologists in the lead up to his sentencing that he had been sexually abused when he was nine years old, which they claim left him with post-traumatic stress disorder. That was exacerbated by a workplace injury that left him with constant back pain.
It was a combination of that pain, a lack of sleep, a comedown from drugs and a tendency to lash out that caused him to fatally assault Hendren-Krippner with a knife, the court was told.
Following her death, he called triple zero twice. The first time he said nothing and hung up. The second time, he told the operator that Hendren-Krippner needed help and admitted he stabbed her.
The court was told in the hours leading up to the killing, he sent a series of text messages to his father, Dr Alistair Nuttall.
“I have encountered narcissism at a level that is difficult to fathom,” Nuttall wrote in text messages to his father.
“The sooner I get out of this state the better. I would like to talk soon. I apologise for sounding cryptic. I will say more when there are no listening ears. I love you.”
Nuttall has since said that he “feels vile” and “deep regret” over Hendren-Krippner’s death.
“You not only took Alisha but you have been responsible for shattering countless other lives,” Forrester said.
“Her family will never recover from her loss and the violent manner in which she was taken.”
Forrester said Nuttall’s actions were “vicious” and “uncontrolled”.
“There is no excuse for what you have done,” she said.
“You and you alone were responsible for your drug use which was a contributing factor in your offending.”
Nuttall has been engaging in drug rehabilitation while in custody.
He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 18 years.
