{"id":548760,"date":"2026-03-18T16:59:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T16:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/548760\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T16:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T16:59:14","slug":"michael-james-chalmers-faces-court-over-death-of-62-year-old-woman-in-footscray-brothel-in-melbournes-inner-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/548760\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael James Chalmers faces court over death of 62-year-old woman in Footscray brothel in Melbourne’s inner west"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman who was allegedly raped and murdered in a Footscray brothel died from some form of neck compression or smothering, a forensic pathologist has told a Melbourne Court.<\/p>\n

Michael James Chalmers, 36, has been charged over the death of the 62-year-old woman, whose body was found by police inside the 149 Rainbow Garden brothel in Footscray in November 2024.<\/p>\n

Mr Chalmers is also accused of raping the woman.<\/p>\n

He is yet to enter a formal plea.<\/p>\n

\"Dozens<\/p>\n

Floral tributes placed outside a Footscray brothel, where a woman was allegedly murdered in November 2024. (ABC News: Leanne Wong)<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, two forensic pathologists from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (VIFM) gave evidence at a committal hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.<\/p>\n

Under cross-examination, Dr Joanne Ho said she could not say conclusively how the woman had died, but said there were factors suggestive of death being caused by strangulation or smothering.<\/p>\n

She said she observed pinpoint bruising to the woman’s head, which was not “diagnostic” of an asphyxia death.<\/p>\n

She could not say how the bruising came about.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

Police at the Rainbow Garden adult entertainment club in Footscray, where a woman was allegedly murdered in November 2024. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

But the court heard Ms Ho’s colleague, Dr Joanna Glengarry, came to a “less conservative” conclusion.<\/p>\n

“You are of the view the death occurred by virtue of some broad neck compression or smothering or gagging?” Mr Chalmers’s lawyer, Barnaby Johnston, asked her.<\/p>\n

Sexual assault\u00a0support lines:1800 Respect National Helpline<\/a>: 1800 737 732Lifeline<\/a> (24-hour crisis line): 131 114Full Stop Australia<\/a>: 1800 385 578Bravehearts<\/a>: counselling and support for survivors of child sexual abuse: 1800\u00a0272\u00a0831Child Wise<\/a>: counselling provider: 1800\u00a0991\u00a0099<\/p>\n

“Yes,” Dr Glengarry replied.<\/p>\n

Police informant, Detective Senior Constable Daniel Fallone, said the woman’s daughter had disclosed she had hypertension or heart disease.<\/p>\n

Under questioning from Mr Johnston, he also said that an incident described by the woman’s daughter, where she was struck by a man in the weeks leading up to her death, was not reported to police.<\/p>\n

He said police had only collected a statement from one person who had attended the brothel during the week before the woman’s death, and the blood found in the woman’s room was not tested.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The woman’s supporters set up a tribute outside the court on Wednesday. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Outside the court, advocates for sex workers formed a red lantern display in honour of the alleged victim.<\/p>\n

“By showing up and having a strong presence today, we’re hoping to keep her story and her presence alive,” Damien Nguyen from the Rising Red Lantern Project said.<\/p>\n

At the end of the committal process, a magistrate will decide whether the matter goes to trial.<\/p>\n

The victim’s name was not made available to the media, with a magistrate making the decision to redact her name from charge sheets.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The woman’s supporters tied paper lanterns to the front of the court building on Wednesday. (ABC News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman who was allegedly raped and murdered in a Footscray brothel died from some form of neck…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[271505,271503,33604,271506,271504,49792,43,647,81546,153584,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-548760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-149-rainbow-garden","tag-adult-entertainment-venue","tag-alleged-murder","tag-brothel","tag-committal","tag-footscray","tag-headlines","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-magistrates-court","tag-michael-chalmers","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548760","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=548760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}