EXCLUSIVE
A kickboxer found in a hotel room covered in blood and with cuts on his arm near his dead partner has a history of AVOs against him, Daily Mail Australia can reveal.
Shirley So, 50, was found stabbed to death at the Pullman Hotel in Penrith, western Sydney, about 1.10pm on Sunday.
Her on-off partner, Darren John Berry, 53, was flown to Westmead Hospital in a critical condition, where he remains under police guard.
No charges have been laid and there is no suggestion Berry was responsible for Ms So’s death.
It is understood he is expected to pull through but investigators have not yet interviewed him.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal that New South Wales police went to court on Monday to ask a judge for an order to carry out a forensic procedure against Berry.
The magistrate made an interim order allowing detectives to carry out the procedure, pending determination of a final hearing of the application, which is scheduled for Penrith Local Court next Monday.
Darren John Berry, 53, is currently in hospital under police guard.
Emergency services were called to the hotel on Mulgoa Road (pictured) at around 1.10pm after Ms So’s body was discovered.
Berry, a former professional wrestler who used the nickname ‘Hacksaw’, is a father and security guard originally from Sydney’s western suburbs.
Online posts suggest Berry frequented the city’s eastern suburbs, where Ms So is believed to have resided.
Berry was the subject of several detained violence orders made against him in recent years, including two relating to a former partner in 2017 and 2019.
A third AVO relating to a man was issued in 2019.
It is understood that Berry and So had only started dating in recent months.
Homicide detectives have begun an investigation into the moments before the woman’s death.
Berry is known as “Hacksaw” by his peers.
Berry is a security guard originally from western Sydney.
Staff at the Pullman Hotel in Penrith, west of Sydney, made a grim discovery on Sunday afternoon when they found the body of a woman, covered in blood. The scene is represented
The incident unfolded over a busy weekend at the nearby Penrith Panthers League club complex, with many locals witnessing the massive emergency response as up to 10 police cars arrived at the scene.
“We left the wedding exhibition (and saw) seven cars, three ambulances and two detective cars,” said one witness.
“(A) man was taken out of Pullmans and was in very bad condition (intubated) and they put him in one of the ambulances and rushed him to the waiting Careflight helicopter.”
Meanwhile, her devastated loved ones have flocked to the internet to remember Ms So as a “beautiful” person.
“(She was) a dear friend of mine, as well as a mother, sister, aunt, daughter and a beautiful human being,” one friend wrote online.