Cobram woman was allegedly assaulted in the days before her death, court told

He is facing charges including intentionally causing injury, two counts of assault and assault of a female.

The charges relate to an alleged assault on Cobram woman Emma Bates, 49, who was found dead in her Cobram home on April 23.

Cobram Crime Investigation Unit Detective Senior Constable Kim Sneddon told the court an autopsy found Bates died from diabetic ketoacidosis with a head injury.

The autopsy also found Ms Bates’ injuries were “not from a simple fall”.

Det Sen Constable Sneddon said Mr Torney told his brother he would “chop (Ms Bates) up into bits and pieces” and then make him “bury her in the bush” on Saturday, April 20.

On that occasion, the brother had found Ms Bates with a swollen lip, and Mr Torney said he had punched her.

The court heard Ms Bates was last seen alive at 7.30pm that day at shops in Cobram.

On Monday, April 22, Mr Torney went next door to his mother’s house and asked to borrow a glucose monitor, saying Ms Bates’ phone — which she used to monitor her glucose levels for her diabetes — was broken.

At 9pm that night, Mr Torney told his mother Ms Bates “wasn’t well and wasn’t waking up” but that she was “not dead”.

Ms Torney’s mother told him he should call an ambulance, but he said he didn’t want to as she had marks on her face because he had punched her on the Saturday.

On Tuesday, April 23, Mr Torney told his mother Ms Bates “still wasn’t waking up, but that she was breathing” and was again told to call an ambulance.

Cobram police found Ms Bates dead in her bed that day.

She had bruising to both her eyes and a large lump under each of them, a large gash to the top of her head, and cuts to her nose and lip.

The court was told that in an interview with police Mr Torney said he and Ms Bates had a fight on the Saturday, and he hit her in the cheek and she spat on him.

They wrestled, and when he went to get off her, he pushed her head into the floor, which split her head open, he told police.

Mr Torney told police when he last saw her on the Monday he kept trying to wake her up and that she was “breathing like she was snoring”.

Det Sen Constable Sneddon said Mr Torney had prior convictions for violence against women, including making threats to kill one and assaulting her; pouring petrol over a car while another woman was inside it; and stabbing another in the hand with a knife.

He was also on a community corrections order at the time of the alleged assault of Ms Bates.

While Mr Torney had been found suitable for the Court Integrated Services Program if he was granted bail, Det Sen Constable Sneddon was concerned he would not take part in programs that had already been available to him under the community corrections order he was on.

Det Sen Constable Sneddon said police alleged the injuries that were the subject of the charge of causing serious injury occurred after Ms Bates was last seen at shops on April 20.

Mr Torney’s lawyer, Nelson Brown, argued his client should be bailed because he was a First Nations person, the Court Integrated Services Program was available to him and he felt there was a “weakness in the prosecution case”.

Mr Brown said there was “reasonable doubt” about how Ms Bates’ injuries occurred.

He also said his client had been in custody for almost six months already and he may spend more time in custody than any sentence he would be given if found guilty.

The prosecutor, however, argued that a contested hearing date had been set for February for the matter and that if found guilty of the charges, any more custody before then would not exceed any prison term he may receive if found guilty.

In refusing bail, Mr Zebrowski said Mr Torney was an unacceptable risk of committing further offences, interfering with witnesses and getting back on to drugs.

Magistrate Simon Zebrowski said Mr Torney had “extensive” prior convictions for violence and a “litany of breaches of court orders”.

“I am told conditions can be put in place to ameliorate risk, but how can I be confident when he’s breached everything he’s been on?” Mr Zebrowski said.