The lawyer representing a man accused of a domestic violence murder in the New South Wales Hunter region has described the incident as “tragic”, and says those involved are “very distraught”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Christopher James McLoughney, 37, was refused bail by a Sydney magistrate on Sunday morning, after being charged with murder, as well as a drug possession and two firearm-related offences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was arrested near a Bellbird sporting club on Saturday night, a day after the body of 39-year-old Rhukaya Lake was found inside a home on Ellalong Street, in Kearsley, just outside of Cessnock.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Police responded to the property around 7.30pm on Friday following reports a woman had been injured and alleged gunshots were heard.<\/p>\n
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The alleged murder happened at a Kearsley property, near Cessnock, on Friday night. (ABC News: Thorsten Joses)<\/p>\n
A child is believed to have raised the alarm by walking up to 400 metres to flag down passing motorists.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ms Lake was located by officers with serious injuries, including a gunshot wound, but died.\u00a0<\/p>\n
An investigation into her alleged domestic violence murder was established a short time later, involving Hunter Valley Police and the State Crime Command Homicide Squad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Police previously said a sawn-off shotgun and ammunition were allegedly found inside Mr McLoughney’s car, and were taken for forensic testing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Police established a crime scene at the Kearsley property. (ABC News)<\/p>\n
Mental health concerns, court hears<\/p>\n
The accused didn’t face Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday; his lawyer, Osman Samin, appeared on his behalf.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Samin said the 37-year-old would not apply for bail which was then formally refused.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He requested that “welfare checks” be conducted on his client who he said had “a number of significant mental health conditions”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The magistrate granted the request and adjourned the matter until January next year at Newcastle Court.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Police attended the home on Friday night after reports a woman was seriously injured.\u00a0 (ABC News: Thorsten Joses)<\/p>\n
Outside court, Mr Samin told media it was “a tragic incident”.<\/p>\n
“Nothing that I am going to say is going to change that,” Mr Samin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately at this stage, it is impossible for me to make any meaningful comment about the allegations other than a very short police summary.<\/p>\n
“[I] understand everyone involved is very distraught. There will be welfare checks done accordingly.”Small community saddened<\/p>\n
Kathie Donn, who has lived in Kearsley for 40 years, said news of Ms Lake’s death had hit her community hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Kathie Donn says she is shocked and saddened by Rhukaya Lake’s death. (ABC Newcastle: Keely Johnson)<\/p>\n
“We’re a very close-knit community and word just spread like wildfire,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Everyone knows everyone [so this incident] is hard for residents.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cessnock Mayor Dan Watton told the ABC in a statement he was “deeply saddened” by Ms Lake’s death.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“My heartfelt condolences go out to all those impacted, especially the close family and friends who are grieving at this incredibly difficult time,” Mr Watton said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Please know that the entire Cessnock community stands with you.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
NSW Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Jodie Harrison, described Ms Lake’s death as “terrible news”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We are certainly supporting police with everything we can to ensure the investigation goes as smooth as it can,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The lawyer representing a man accused of a domestic violence murder in the New South Wales Hunter region…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,151689,151687,1108,39043,128994,151690,44,151688],"class_list":["post-257256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cessnock","tag-christopher-james-mcloughney","tag-court","tag-domestic-violence","tag-domestic-violence-murder","tag-kearsley","tag-news","tag-rhukaya-lake"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}