Colin Glass death: Matthew Ronald Bennis, Kaia Ridgeway, Sheree Cross, Jodie Mackenzie, Lauren Brown in court

A judge has said she’s “on a rampage” about lengthy delays in a case of multiple co-accused facing charges over the death of a man dropped outside a Mid-North Coast hospital with fatal stab wounds.

Taree Police Station.

More than two years on – and almost 20 mentions in a local court later – a judge has slammed delays in the case of a man who was dropped outside Taree hospital by his niece with fatal stab wounds.

District Court Judge Robyn Tupman is in the process of sentencing three of the five co-accused charged in relation to the death of Colin Glass and on Thursday she said she was on a “rampage” about the delays involved.

“I’m on a rampage about these sorts of things, it’s really not good enough...and it’s usually the fault of the police not doing the things they need to do.”

In the early hours of April 23, 2023, Mr Glass was stabbed at a block of flats in Tuncurry after an argument about drugs and was driven to Manning Base Hospital by his niece Lauren Kaye Brown.

Mr Glass died before he made it inside the emergency ward.

Manning Base Hospital in Taree. Picture: Janine Watson

Delays in the preparation of vital reports including a blood splatter analysis have also drawn the criticism of Taree Local Court magistrate Allison Hawkins, prompting her at one stage to say: “If only the public knew what was going on in this place.”

After Mr Glass was found dead outside the hospital police launched an investigation focusing on a block of flats along Heath Ave in Tuncurry.

Colin Glass was dropped at Taree hospital with fatal stab wounds on April 23.

About a week later Matthew Ronald Bennis, 31 at the time, and Kaia Ridgeway, 25, were arrested at a motor inn on The Lakes Way, Forster.

Bennis was initially hit with a murder charge and Ridgeway with concealing a serious indictable offence.

But the murder charge has now been withdrawn and Bennis has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

He has also pleaded guilty to indictable drug supply and has been remanded in custody since his arrest.

Judge Robyn Tupman from the District Court of NSW. Picture: Supplied

Ridgeway has pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to manslaughter and the charges of concealing a serious indictable offence and being an accessory after the fact to murder were withdrawn.

She is currently on bail reporting to Wollongong Police Station seven days a week and ordered to stay away from the Forster Tuncurry area.

In the weeks following the arrests of Bennis and Ridgeway police arrested 50-year-old Sheree Cross and charged her with being an accessory after the fact to murder and accessory after the fact to malicious wounding.

These charges have now been withdrawn and she has pleaded guilty to hindering an investigation into a serious indictable offence.

Judge Tupman was in the process of sentencing Bennis, Ridgeway and Cross in the Paramatta District Court on Thursday when she spoke out about the delays.

Police focused their attention on a block of flats on Heath Ave, Tuncurry after Mr Glass was dropped at the hospital in Taree. Picture: Janine Watson

Two other women - Jodie Mackenzie and Mr Glass’s niece Lauren Kay Brown - have already been dealt with in relation to the incident.

Brown pleaded guilty to hindering the police investigation into his death and in August last year she was sentenced in the Sydney Downing Centre District Court to a prison term of one year and seven months, to be served by way of intensive correction order in the community.

The outcome of Mackenzie’s charge of hindering the apprehension of a person who committed a serious offence was suppressed by Taree District Court in March.

Mackenzie was granted bail in an emotional Supreme Court appearance in November 2023 after spending more than five months remanded in custody.

Judge Tupman will continue the sentencing procedure for Bennis, Ridgeway and Cross on July 24.

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