DRESSED in denim shorts and a dark shirt Justin Osborne, 37, the alleged killer of Katherine man Ron Donaldson, sat in Katherine’s Magistrate Court last Thursday.
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While seemingly nervous to begin with, Mr Osborne, who doesn’t have a fixed address, looked around the room, taking in people’s faces.
Oblivious to the tears of the victim’s family, he smiled when the court ordered he would have to undergo mental health assessment in Darwin.
Both his knees and a toe were bandaged - injuries believed to be received in an altercation with another man, separate to the one that cost Mr Donaldson his life.
In court on Thursday Magistrate Tanya Fong Lim rejected an application to move the court case to Darwin.
She said travel costs for Darwin-based senior counsels were not enough reason to move the case to Darwin, given all witnesses were in Katherine.
She remanded the accused in custody and the case has been adjourned to January 20 when the accused will appear via video link.
