PROSECUTORS will drop the most serious charges against a man accused of causing the death of Tony Williams at Kurri Kurri in 2021 after his lawyers filed a no bill application with the DPP.
Robert Raymond Dennehy, 50, is currently listed to face a two-week trial in Newcastle District Court in October on a number of serious domestic violence offences, including manslaughter and assaulting causing death.
The matter was listed again on Thursday to check on the preparation of the trial, but instead Crown prosecutor Brian Costello said the trial would be vacated and it was anticipated Mr Dennehy would plead guilty to a charge of reckless wounding.
The other more serious charges will be withdrawn when Mr Dennehy, currently on bail and residing in Queensland, enters the plea via audio visual link next Thursday.
It is expected that Mr Dennehy, who spent about a year in jail while bail refused, will be sentenced on November 6.
Mr Dennehy was initially charged with reckless wounding and assault occasioning actual bodily harm (both domestic violence related), but after Williams' death an autopsy was conducted and the DPP upgraded the charges to include manslaughter and the one-punch law of assault causing death.
A year later and those more serious charges will soon be withdrawn and the matter will be back near where it started.
Mr Dennehy was refused bail after his arrest in October, 2021, but was granted bail a year later in Newcastle District Court after being arraigned and pleading not guilty to all four charges.
