A 25-year-old charged with murdering baby Bella Richardson appeared in court on Friday via audio visual link. Photo / Bevan Conley
A 25-year-old charged with murdering baby Bella Richardson appeared in court on Friday via audio visual link. Photo / Bevan Conley
A 25-year-old man charged with murdering baby Bella Richardson appeared in Whanganui District Court via audio visual link on Friday.
Defence lawyer Nicolette Levy requested interim name suppression for her client as herself and expected lead defence lawyer Letizia Ord are new to the case.
Justice Robert Dobson granted theman interim name suppression, the third time he has received it since he was arrested in September 2018.
Michele Wilkinson-Smith said the Crown had a neutral stance on name suppression at this time.
It will next be addressed when the accused appears for callover at 9am on April 10 and the defence will be expected to make applications if they want suppression to continue.
Bella Richardson was 8 months old when she died at a property in Whanganui on November 7, 2016. The alleged killer knew her, but is not related to her.
A trial date for the accused has been set for November 11, 2019 in Whanganui and is expected to take three to four weeks to reach a conclusion.
