A man accused of the stabbing murder of his fiancé in a Bassendean home on Wednesday is the son of a GP who made headlines in 2017 after he was suspended following the death of a patient.
Tobias Nuttall, 32, was arrested last week after a 30-year-old woman died from injuries police allege he inflicted upon her at a Reid Street property shortly after the pair returned home from a trip to Sydney.
Perth conspiracy theory and occult podcaster Tobias Nuttall has been charged with murder.Credit: YouTube/WakingWorld
Nuttall was revealed to be the co-host of a podcast called Waking World which explored topics including “the occult, magick, spirituality, and everything clandestine”.
In 2017, Nuttall’s father, Dr Alastair Nuttall, was found by the State Administrate Tribunal to have engaged in serious misconduct by encouraging a 10-year-old liver cancer patient to continue to receive natural therapy treatment.
Tamar Stitt died in November 2009, two months after the GP had a 45-minute consultation with her, during which he falsely told her parents her tumour had shrunk.
Alastair Nuttall, former Perth GP who was suspended in 2017 following the death of a patient.
“Whatever you are doing, keep doing it,” he was alleged to have said at the time.
The GP, who had no experience in treating a childhood hepatoblastoma tumour, provided the parents with a fitness to fly certificate to travel to El Salvador to continue an alternative therapy which involved clay and eating a diet of fruit and vegetables.
Tamar died just weeks after arriving in the country.
During evidence, it was revealed Dr Nuttall had developed a reputation for seeing cancer patients using alternative treatments.
The doctor was suspended from practicing for 12 months. Online records show he now works at a practice in Mullumbimby in New South Wales.
On Friday, his son faced Midland Magistrates Court charged with the murder of his fiancé, a woman who friends described to this masthead as “calm, very intellectual and a deeply introspective type of woman, who deeply cared for her friends”.
They also describe her as an animal lover, an avid reader who “delved into psychology and philosophy at times”.
She was also “head over heels in love” with Nuttall, they said.
What happened in the moments leading up to the woman’s death has mystified them.
The pair had been over east for a court case, with Nuttall seeking compensation for a back injury after he had been run over by a car.
The death of their friend has left a dark shadow.
“Her tattoos were a form of her self-expression, an extension of her spirit,” a friend, who asked not to be named, told this masthead.
“She had an interest in the occult, but more a hobby.”
Six weeks ago, she appeared on Nuttall’s podcast who he co-hosted with a friend, Dale.
Tobias Nuttall co-hosts a podcast show.Credit: Facebook
On the episode, she talked about being in the sex industry and becoming an escort during COVID when the bars where she had been working as a stripper were forced to close.
She told the show’s listeners that she was born in New Zealand and moved to WA as a child, living in a remote far north town “in the desert”, and went to a strict all-girls Catholic boarding school in Perth.
On Friday, Waking World’s co-host, Dale, released an episode talking about the woman’s death and Nuttall’s subsequent arrest, and claimed Nuttall’s family did not approve of the pair’s relationship.
Nuttall, who grew up in the affluent suburb of Brigadoon, was a pupil at the prestigious Guildford Grammar School, graduating in 2010.
According to online sources, Nuttall later graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in philosophy and had been working in Sydney when he met his Waking World podcast host two years ago.
Dale described Nuttall as someone who came from a “normal family”, but he was “like someone you’ve never met before”.
“I’ve loved Toby for the last two years ... I’ve never met anyone like him, basically,” Dale said on the Waking World episode.
“And I don’t think many of you have.
“I think a lot of you haven’t heard anyone quite like Toby when he’s talking about things. It’s what made him so interesting. ”
He told listeners Nuttall had returned to Perth to study to become a teacher but was “kicked out” after tutors learned about the pair’s podcast.
Dale said Nuttall and his partner were “both into ritual and magic to affect outcomes”.
“I grew quite close to Toby, as I think anyone that’s listened to him has as well,” Dale said.
“He’s a very, very likable guy.
“He’s a totally, totally unique character. He’s like no one else you’ve ever met.”
However, Dale said Nuttall lived “a solitary life”.
On Friday, Nuttall was remanded in custody and will be back before the courts on September 17.
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