Doctor returns to court charged with murdering mum in Sandy Bay
A former Hobart doctor has denied murdering his elderly mother just days after her husband passed away.
Tasmania
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A FORMER Hobart doctor charged with murdering his elderly mother in Sandy Bay has returned to Tasmania and faced court alongside his older brother.
Stephen John Edwards, 65, is accused of murdering Nelda Mavis Edwards, 88, on March 4, 2016, by administering her with a drug.
He is also accused alongside his brother, Robert David Edwards, 69, with conspiring to obstruct the course of justice by providing false information after their mother’s death until April 28, 2016.
Dr Edwards pleaded not guilty to murder before Justice Michael Brett in the Supreme Court in Hobart on Wednesday, while both men pleaded not guilty to the conspiracy charge.
The matter is expected to proceed to trial next year, with a date to be fixed.
The brothers sat in the docks during a day of legal argument, the content of which was suppressed from publication.
It was previously reported that Dr Edwards was extradited from NSW after being arrested at his Woy Woy practice.
He was met on the plane by airport security and was driven away from the tarmac to appear in a special Magistrates Court sitting, the Mercury reported in 2016.
Prosecutors claimed Mrs Edwards died after being given medication and that Dr Edwards travelled to Hobart in the days before her death.
According to a death notice published in the Mercury at the time, Mrs Edwards “passed away peacefully”.
Her 90-year-old husband David died a few days earlier, with a notice in the Mercury saying he had died peacefully at home on March 2.
The same announcement said a son Glendon died on February 20, aged 64.
Both Dr Edwards and his brother remain on bail.
Originally published as Doctor returns to court charged with murdering mum in Sandy Bay
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