Matthew Breckenridge set to go to trial for murder of Scott Parrot at Beresfield train station

A man accused of bashing a fellow train passenger to death at a Newcastle station was set to take a Supreme Court trial date before a “fitness issue” saw it delayed. Read what happened.

Beresfield train station in the Hunter Valley where the deadly assault occurred on December 12, 2022. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Peter Lorimer.

A court has heard there could be a “fitness issue” with a Newcastle man set to face trial accused of fatally bashing a fellow passenger with an intellectual disability at a train station.

Matthew Robert Breckenridge, 28, was arrested near Beresfield train station on December 12, 2022 after 39-year-old Scott Parrot was found critically injured on the platform just after 6pm.

Paramedics treated the man at the scene, but he died of his injuries before an investigation revealed Breckenridge was inside a train in the rail corridor about an hour later.

It will be alleged the attack was random and unprovoked, all captured on CCTV.

Scott Parrot died after an alleged attack at Beresfield Train Station.

Crime scene on the night. Picture: Dustin Clark.

He was taken to Raymond Terrace police station where he was charged with murder.

Breckenridge pleaded not guilty to the charge in April and appeared in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney on Friday where, he was set to be arraigned and a date set for his trial.

But his solicitor Kristy Wade told the court the defence position had changed in recent days and there were now concerns with her client’s fitness to provide instructions.

She said they wanted to adjourn his arraignment date to “resolve the issue”.

Breckenridge’s matter has now been adjourned to July.

Mr Parrot was described by his family as the “quintessential gentle giant”, a friendly character who spent much of his time travelling on the rail network, chatting to passengers and visiting his favourite locations.

Two days following his tragic death, his father Chris said his son had never let his intellectual disability get in the way of living his life as he spent his time playing snooker and riding the trains around the Hunter and Central Coast.