Man charged with mum’s murder has ‘unusual request’ for magistrate
A Queensland man accused of abducting his mother last week has now been charged with her murder.
Murder victim Wendy Sleeman was murdered by a man who was on parole, a court has heard. (Photo: ABC)
Brisbane Magistrates Court heard on Tuesday that police had laid one additional charge against Slade Murdok, 30, for the murder of his 61-year-old mother Wendy Sleeman.
Murdok was arrested on Wednesday last week after Ms Sleeman went missing from her Gold Coast home and was later found dead in Brisbane.
He appeared in court on Thursday last week and was refused bail on a string of domestic violence-related charges, including kidnapping, assault, stalking and attempted arson.
The police prosecutor told magistrate Belinda Merrin on Tuesday that Murdok was not required to appear in person or via video-link for the murder charge to be heard.
Murdok’s solicitor, Rodney Keyte, told the court his client had been charged over alleged offences that were committed on the Gold Coast.
Keyte said he had an “unusual request” to pass on to the magistrate.
“He has an injury to his hand … he asks for an order that fingerprints not be taken until it has healed,” Keyte said.
Merrin said she did not understand the request and did not know which power would be used to grant it if she could.
Murdock was ordered to reappear at Southport Magistrates Court on February 14, where he is also due for a further hearing on the domestic violence-related charges related to Ms Sleeman’s alleged abduction.
Police began looking for Sleeman on Tuesday last week, shortly after she contacted police to notify them of a disturbance at her Elanora home.
A police statement alleged officers when they arrived at Sleeman’s home found blood at the property and a doormat on fire which was quickly extinguished, however nobody was located.
The search ended two days later when they recovered her body from a car parked inside a garage at Windsor, in Brisbane’s inner north.
Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday held a brief hearing on separate charges filed against Murdok last year.
Murdok had been released on bail at the time of Sleeman’s alleged murder last week.
He was charged with the serious assault of a police officer, physically obstructing a police officer and contravening a police order to supply his full name and address on April 14 at a house in Ferny Grove in Brisbane’s outer northwest.
The 2022 matter was adjourned until May 19 in Mental Health Court.
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