Sean Price, who has been charged with the murder of 17-year-old schoolgirl Masa Vukotic, appeared in Melbourne magistrates court on Friday morning, also charged with rape, three counts of common assault, and two counts of robbery.
Masa’s father sat in the gallery of the courtroom wearing dark sunglasses, at times with his head in his hands or with his hands clutched together tightly.
He stared at Price when he was brought in. When Price caught his eye, he stared back, before Price broke his gaze after more than a minute and rolled his eyes.
There was no application for bail, and Price was ordered to appear before the court on 26 June for a committal hearing.
When the magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg asked prosecutors why they had requested so much time before his next hearing, the court heard it was because there was 12 weeks of CCTV footage captured across 12 suburbs, as well as DNA evidence that police had to analyse.
Masa was found dead in Koonung Creek Linear park in Doncaster about 7pm on Tuesday, and police said it appeared she had been randomly attacked during her evening walk.
Police were called after people living near the reserve heard a girl screaming. When emergency services attended, Masa was still alive but she died at the scene and paramedics were unable to revive her.
A comprehensive media campaign to find her killer, which included the release of CCTV footage by police, led detectives to focus their investigations on Sunshine, a suburb about 30km west of where Masa was found.
Police alleged Price carried out a rape, robberies and assaults on Thursday morning before turning himself in to Sunshine police about midday.
A vigil for Masa was held on Wednesday night in the reserve where she was killed.
