TAMWORTH District Court this Thursday will hear an application for a change-of-venue argument from Sharon Strudwick.
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Strudwick, 47, of Tamworth, is accused of trying to dispose of evidence relating to the murder of police officer Senior Constable David Rixon to
protect the alleged killer.
Strudwick would not have representation if the hearing was held in Tamworth, said Mr Wilson, defence counsel for another accused in the case, a 22-year-old Tamworth man who cannot be named.
“There won’t be anyone representing Sharon, her legal representatives being in Sydney,” Mr Wilson said.
Strudwick was charged with accessory to murder after the fact for the killing on March 2 last year, in which Senior Constable Rixon, 40, was shot after pulling over an allegedly disqualified driver for a random breath-test.
The driver, Michael Allan Jacobs, 48, pleaded not guilty to the senior constable’s murder when he appeared during an arraignment at the NSW Supreme Court on November 7.
The 22-year-old man charged with hindering the discovery of evidence
in relation to the murder appeared
for hearing in Tamworth District
Court yesterday.
Mr Wilson said he would be
representing the 22-year-old man.
Judge North continued bail for both Strudwick and the 22-year-old.
Crown prosecutor in court yesterday was Mr Wayne Creasey.
In September, the Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew the charge of accessory after the fact of murder against Strudwick and the 22-year-old man but replaced it with an additional charge of acting to pervert the course of justice.
The latest charge carries a maximum sentence of 14 years, and is still an indictable offence and has to be heard in a supreme or district court.
Both Strudwick and the 22-year-old are also facing a second charge of hinder discovery evidence another serious indictable offence.
Last year, a second woman, Monica Margaret Joyce Sampson, 29, pleaded guilty to two counts of act to pervert the course of justice
Sampson was sentenced to three years with a non-parole period of 18 months.
Following an application from Jacob’s lawyers on November 7 during the Supreme Court hearing, Jacobs’ trial will be held in Sydney in June this year, rather than in Tamworth.