John Torney faces Shepparton court charged with negligent manslaughter of Cobram woman Emma Bates

A man who allegedly told a Cobram woman he would “chop her up” into little pieces has been charged with manslaughter following an extensive police investigation.

The man accused of killing his neighbour after he allegedly threatened to “chop her up” into pieces has fronted court for the first time since a manslaughter charge was laid.

John Torney, 40, fronted Shepparton Magistrates’ Court on December 17 after he was charged with the negligent manslaughter of Cobram woman Emma Bates.

Cobram detectives charged Mr Torney with manslaughter on Friday.

Mr Torney, who appeared via video link from Melbourne Remand Centre, had previously been facing a raft of assault-related charges following Ms Bates’ death.

He was charged with intentionally causing injury, recklessly causing injury, common law assault, aggravated assault of a female and unlawful assault.

On April 23 police found Ms Bates in her home following a welfare check and Mr Torney was later arrested outside the Betta Electrical in Cobram.

He has been on remand since.

John Torney is accused of killing Emma Bates.

It had been alleged at Mr Torney’s bail application in October that he would “chop her up” into little pieces and make his brother clean it up.

Mr Torney spent the brief court hearing with a frown and only spoke briefly when addressing Magistrate Alison Vaughan’s question whether he had any custody management issues, where he replied a muffled “no”.

Mr Torney’s lawyer Kyle McLaughlin told the court the defence would be applying for costs on three previous court dates: June 20, August 6 and October 17.

Mr McLaughlin said there was “no indication on any charges of homicide” by the prosecution.

“Had this charge been laid earlier there would have been no utility in any of those appearances,” he said.

The prosecution told the court they had not received a medical report until October 30 and said the informant was “hampered” due to Mr Torney being in custody.

Emma Bates was allegedly killed by John Torney in her Cobram home.

Ms Vaughan granted costs to the defence for the June 20 and August 6 dates but rejected an award for costs for Mr Torney’s bail application on October 17.

The total costs to be repaid by police is $780.

Ms Bates had long battled health issues, including Type 1 diabetes, and required a mobility scooter to travel around.

Her official cause of death following the assault was listed as “diabetic ketoacidosis in a diabetic woman with a head injury” her family told the Herald Sun.

Ms Bates and Mr Torney, who were neighbours, had begun a relationship in the lead up to her death.

Outside court, Ms Bates’ sisters told the Herald Sun they were glad he had been charged with manslaughter but were not looking forward to going through the entire court system again.

98 women have been killed in Australia this year.

Mr Torney will return to court for a committal mention on March 19.