Luke Noormets: Former partner reveals horrific treatment at hands of Georgia Rose Lyall murderer

A former partner of Luke Noormets has detailed her horrific treatment at the hands of the savage murderer – including a terrifying 2011 home invasion that was reported to police – raising serious questions about his early release from prison on parole. Noormets was in 2019 sentenced to seven years behind bars for the brutal kidnap and torture of drug dealer Jack Tonta. He was released two years early in June 2022, a decision the Prison Review Board wrote was motivated in part because he “had no previous history of violence”. Just over a year later he went on to fatally shoot his estranged partner Georgia Lyall – an ex-girlfriend of Tonta – before turning the gun on himself. The West Australian has previously revealed that Noormets was in 2012 jailed for three years and 10 months for selling meth – and at the same time fined $650 over a “domestic violence incident”. Motivated by their shock and disappointment at the PRB’s decision to release Noormets early and speaking on condition of anonymity, the victims at centre of that incident have now come forward to describe the harrowing ordeal. In a sworn statement which has been provided to WA Police as part of a coronial investigation into Ms Lyall’s death, Noormets’ former partner detailed the torment she was subjected to during the four years they spent together and after their relationship ended. That included being stalked by Noormets after the pair broke up, culminating in the one-time Rebels bikie nominee arriving at her home in April 2011 and claiming he had a gun and was going to shoot himself. “I rang the police and they issued him with an order for him to stay away from me,” the woman wrote in her statement. She then left the premises to pick up her new boyfriend from the airport, arriving back at the house at 2.15am that morning. “As we went to walk inside the house Luke came rushing at us,” she wrote. “We ran into the house and tried to shut the front door. Luke punched his fist through the glass of the door, reached inside and unlocked the door. “I hid (my new boyfriend) in a bedroom closet. Luke entered the house without permission and stormed through the house screaming out for us to tell him where (my new boyfriend) was. “Luke was shouting ‘I am going to kill him’”. The woman, whose brother was also at the house at the time, rang police while yelling for Noormets to leave, which he eventually did – but not before calling her a “lying little c…”. The woman, her new boyfriend – who is now her husband – and her brother all provided evidence to police in the aftermath of the home invasion. She wrote in her statement to the Coroner that she was subsequently informed Noormets had been charged with aggravated burglary, breach of a police order, trespass and damage. Noormets was in 2012 convicted of trespass, wilful damage, breaching a police order and breaching bail over the incident. The victim’s husband told The West Australian the pair had previously also reported Noormets to police after he slashed their car tyres and removed outside light bulbs before staring through their bedroom window at night. He believes police approached his wife to provide a statement to the coronial investigation into Ms Lyall’s death because they were well aware of her previous interactions with Noormets. “How was all of this not reviewed in his parole review and release?” The husband said. “Something has to be done and there needs to be a lesson in this. My wife… still has nightmares about him. Yet she sometimes finds herself feeling sorry for him after what has just happened. “I don’t blame her for this, it is just the outcome of years of emotional manipulation and abuse. It seems he also manipulated the parole board.” The pair are calling for a review into how Noormets was released early. Liberal Leader Libby Mettam – who was first approached by the couple – backed their push. “The Cook Labor Government must provide answers on how releasing this perpetrator two years early was deemed an acceptable risk to the community, in light of his history of violent offending,” she said. “The public deserve answers on how this decision was made by the Prison Review Board, to ensure lessons are learnt and community safety is prioritised.” The PRB granted Noormets’ parole in June last year, finding Noormets was an acceptable risk because of his completion of a medium-intensity general offending program and his “extensive participation in voluntary programs”, which they believed demonstrated his “motivation and willingness” to address his offending behaviour. It also pointed out that Noormets had no “previous history of violence, had a parole plan which included suitable accommodation, confirmed employment and family support”. The PRB was approached for further comment on Tuesday but did not respond prior to publication. The woman’s statement also contains chilling details of her time with Noormets that were never previously reported to police but paint a confronting picture of his behaviour dating back more than a decade. She says Noormets was “always getting into fights around the streets” and developed a meth habit – although he stridently denied taking drugs when confronted. He began to “flip out for no reason and get angry at the smallest things” and become “physical” with his former partner. “He never actually punched me but he would grab me by both arms and throw me onto the bed, into the wall or push me in to garden beds,” she wrote. When the physical abuse reduced her to tears, Noormets would “calm down” and “make it that everything was good and normal again”. He would threaten suicide if she raised the prospect of ending their relationship – including texting her photographs of empty pill packets on one occasion and a rope that he claimed to plan to use to hang himself on another. “I remember when we were out driving he would increase the speed of the car well over the speed limit and he would say that he is going to crash into something just to scare me,” she wrote. Most terrifying of all, Noormets once “put a machete to my neck and threatened to cut it”. “He had so many machetes and knives around the house and he would always threaten me with them,” the woman wrote. 1800RESPECT