Angie Fuller: Jake Jefferson Peters was convicted of assaulting multiple women before his girlfriend vanished

WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS DESCRIPTIONS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

The man who was with missing mum Angie Fuller immediately before she vanished in the Outback has a history of perpetrating horrific family and domestic violence towards women, including a terrifying attack on his aunt with a spear while affected by drugs and alcohol.

Jake Jefferson Peters was the last person to see Ms Fuller alive before she disappeared into the arid central Australian desert outside of Alice Springs in the early hours of January 10 last year.

Peters, 26, has repeatedly claimed that armed gangsters had run Ms Fuller’s car off the Tanami Road before chasing him and his girlfriend into the scrub while shooting at them.

The Nightly can now reveal that in the five years prior to Ms Fuller’s disappearance, Peters was convicted for two separate incidents of aggravated assault against a female relative and another woman.

Court documents obtained exclusively by The Nightly detail the two terrifying and protracted attacks on his aunt and another woman before he began a relationship with Ms Fuller.

The first incident occurred one evening in June 2018 at a property outside of Alice Springs.

Peters, who was “under the influence of an unknown amount of alcohol and methamphetamine”, had called his aunt and argued with her over the phone before going to the house where she was staying.

“The defendant was naked, covered in red ochre and armed with a spear approximately 2 to 2.5m in length,” according to the statement of alleged facts.

“The defendant ran towards the victim, who was standing outside the main entrance to the house, and started thrusting the spear towards her.

“The victim managed to grab the end of the spear, deflecting the spear and pushing it back towards the defendant.

“The defendant yanked the spear end out of the victim’s grip and swung it at her, striking her in the right cheek, causing the spear to splinter and the end of it to break off.”

Peters swung the spear at his aunt again, striking her in the right shoulder.

He then picked up “two remnants of the spear”, which were about three feet long and held them above his head before thrusting them at her.

“The victim held her left arm up in a defensive position to protect herself, causing her left wrist and hand to take the brunt of the strike,” court documents state.

“The victim punched the defendant in an attempt to get him away. This caused the defendant to initially stumble backwards before lunging forward and attempting to strike her with the spear remnants.

“The victim maintained a defensive position using her arms to protect herself with her arms taking the force of the strikes.”

A family member then intervened and the victim ran inside the house and called police.

As police arrived, Peters ran away but was arrested later that night.

He was issued with a notice to appear in court and released from police custody.

Months later, in November 2018, Peters was served a section 41 Police Domestic Violence Order, naming a woman and one of her children as protected persons.

The order stipulated that Peters was not to directly or indirectly intimidate, threaten, harass or harm them, or expose any children to domestic violence. But in September 2019, Peters breached the order by bashing the woman in front of her children.

Peters, the woman and her three children had all been at a home in Darwin on the night of the incident.

“The defendant became angry with the victim and hit the victim twice in the face with the back of his hand,” according to the statement of alleged facts.

“A short time later the defendant, victim and the victim’s three children left the address in the victim’s car with the victim driving.

“As the victim was driving the defendant punched the victim numerous times hard on the arm.”

When the group arrived at the victim’s home at about 11pm, the victim went to bed.

“The defendant punched the victim numerous times to the head,” court documents state.

“The defendant picked up a steel torch and hit the victim on the leg with the torch.

“The defendant pushed the victim up against a wall, causing her to hit her head against the wall.”

Peters continued to assault the woman until 3am the next day when he fell asleep.

The woman contacted a friend who called the police.

At about 9.30 am, two constables arrived and one of them arrested Peters.

He declined to participate in an electronically recorded interview and was later charged with breach of DVO and aggravated assault.

The woman had suffered serious injuries in the assault — including bruising to her face, head, arms and legs — which required hospital treatment.

Peters was remanded in custody for two months while his matter moved through the Darwin Local Court.

In November 2019, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison for the two aggravated assaults, but that sentence was suspended and he was released on a 12-month good behaviour bond.

He returned to his hometown of Alice Springs and, at some stage, began a relationship with Ms Fuller.

After the young mum went missing last year, Peters fled to Queensland.

He is now in jail, awaiting sentencing, over a violent armed carjacking he allegedly committed at Ipswich, south of Brisbane, last year.

Northern Territory police continue to investigate what happened to Ms Fuller, who vanished without a trace from a remote stretch of road in the dead of the night and is presumed dead.

Detectives believe the woman — who has two daughters — was probably murdered in the 48 hours before Peters reported her missing.

Despite large-scale searches, the 30-year-old’s body has not been found.

If you or someone you know is experiencing family violence, phone 1800 RESPECT or the Crisis Care Helpline on 1800 199 008.

Anyone with information about Angie Fuller’s disappearance is urged to contact police on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 and quote #10228143