By David Estcourt
A senior Deakin University lecturer has faced court charged with one count of murder following the death of his wife on Saturday night.
Prominent media and communications academic Dr Adam Brown was taken into custody on Saturday after the death of his partner in Croydon North on Saturday night.
Emergency services were called to the Patrick Avenue address about 10.15pm after reports of an assault.
Paramedics treated the 35-year-old woman at the scene, but she succumbed to her injuries and died shortly after. Brown was taken into custody and charged with murder on Monday.
Brown spoke calmly during a short hearing at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday, confirming twice that he could hear proceedings from the Melbourne West custody centre.
“Yes, your honour,” he told the court.
Deakin University lecturer Adam Brown has been charged with his wife’s murder.
Defence lawyer Nick Tehan said it was Brown’s first time in custody.
Police prosecutor Tara Dimond asked magistrate Olivia Trumble for more time than usual for investigators to compile the brief of evidence against the academic.
Detective Senior Constable David Martin-Alcaide asked for the victim’s name to be withheld from court documents until family in Sydney had been notified of her death. He said police had spoken to family in China.
Neighbours told Nine News that they heard what sounded like an altercation coming from the family home on Saturday night before the arrival of emergency services.
Deakin lecturer Adam Brown faced court on Monday afternoon.Credit: Facebook
Brown and his partner shared two young children together. Details about the alleged murder were not aired in court. Brown was not eligible for bail.
Brown’s biography on Deakin University’s website says the academic is “passionate about non-human animal welfare and human rights, his current research and teaching interests focus primarily on digital learning, social media and gamification”.
He also lists his areas of research as social media, gaming, digital learning, holocaust representation and transmedia storytelling. He is very active on social media, regularly posts blogs on his website and has tweeted almost 20,000 times.
Brown recently posted a blog entry about a visit to Torquay he made with his partner.
He has been remanded and will next face court in September.
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