By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Noble Park man and a Yarraville woman have faced court on a charge of murdering a man in Fitzroy on Tuesday 12 July.
Homicide Squad detectives, with the Special Operations Group, arrested the 43-year-old man and the 21-year-old woman in Noble Park about 5.30pm the following day.
The charges follow a 55-year-old Fitzroy man being fatally shot in Napier Street, Fitzroy, police say.
The co-accused Duc Nguyen, of Noble Park, and the woman, whose identity was suppressed by the court, appeared by video link at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday 15 July.
Defence lawyer Ayla Dodson, in arguing for the suppression order, said there was “very limited knowledge” on the woman’s role in the shooting.
“I’m given to understand she was not the gunman in this matter.”
She also stated the vulnerability of the woman, who had “serious” drug dependency while taking an “intensive” medication regime for anxiety, depression and methamphetamine treatment.
The woman’s mental health was in “rapid decline” while being unable to access anti-psychotic medication since her arrest two days ago, her lawyer said.
Magistrate Graham Keil said it was “profoundly disappointing” that the female accused was in “such a vulnerable position”.
Though facing a murder charge, she was entitled to “civilised care”.
Detective Senior Constable Aaron Price from the Homicide Squad told the court that police were compiling a large amount of CCTV footage over a widely-travelled area by the accused pair.
Audio recordings from phones and other electronic devices, and forensic material such as DNA, fingerprints and ballistics would be examined.
The detective’s bid for an extended 18-week period to hand up a brief of evidence was opposed by defence lawyers.
Instead, Mr Keil set a 10 week deadline for the hand-up brief.
He said he didn’t want people “languishing in jail” without knowing the basis for the charges.
Neither accused applied for bail.
They were remanded to appear at a committal mention at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on 4 November.
