Car- hit kill case in legal limbo

No progress, a year on

THE case of a Huon Valley woman facing a slew of charges relating to her now- dead boyfriend will have reached the one- year mark this week with little progress.

Jari Wise, 26, died on February 29 last year after he was struck by a car while walking along a Huonville road.

Police at the time claimed the car was driven by his 34year- old girlfriend, Melissa Oates, but she has not been charged with causing his death.

The Lucaston woman, who is on bail, appeared in Hobart Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with 122 counts of breaching a police family violence order, two of common assault and one of injuring property. Ms Oates previously entered not guilty pleas to 116 counts of breaching a police family violence order.

In November, her lawyer, Garth Stevens, said the prosecution had not yet disclosed to the defence the facts and evidence it would be relying on for the two counts of common assault and one count of injuring property. On Tuesday, he said he still had not received any of that material.

“There has simply been no correspondence from prosecution on this,” Mr Stevens said.

The prosecutor told the court the file had “only hit my desk yesterday” after coming back from the investigating police officer.

“It will be the one- year anniversary of this matter on Saturday and it still hasn’t been properly prepared or disclosed,” magistrate Glenn Hay said.

Mr Stevens said if the prosecution wanted to proceed with the 116 breach of police family violence order charges, the disclosure that had been received on these charges “needs to be far better organised”.

Mr Stevens described what had been received as “illegible” and without any order.

Magistrate Hay adjourned that matter to March 4 for case management before Deputy Chief Magistrate Michael Daly, with the aim of then setting a hearing date “as soon as possible”.

All other charges were also adjourned to the same date.