Convicted killer Andrew John Cobby’s fraud case delayed as magistrate says police ‘dropped ball’
A magistrate has called police prosecutions’ handling of convicted killer Andrew Cobby’s fraud case “negligent” as it faces yet another delay.
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Convicted killer Andrew Cobby’s fraud case has been delayed yet again, with a magistrate labelling police prosecution handling of the case as “negligent”.
Cobby’s hearing on multiple fraud and forgery charges was due to begin in Southport Magistrates Court on Thursday. He was brought to the courthouse in person and to represent himself.
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Matt Thompson immediately applied for an adjournment, saying he had only days to prepare for the “complicated” hearing after receiving the case late and having been deployed to Cyclone Jasper disaster zones in the meantime.
He said two prosecution witnesses were overseas and another unable to attend for medical reasons.
Cobby raised his own concerns with the case, including that he was missing or struggling to access exhibits from the brief of evidence while in custody.
He is serving a jail sentence for the brutal murder of his estranged wife, Kym Cobby. He is appealing his conviction and the case remains before the courts.
Cobby said on Thursday he wanted the fraud case finalised prior to the appeal.
Magistrate Louisa Pink said a further adjournment was “entirely undesirable” when the case had finally reached a hearing date for the first time in its five years.
Ms Pink said police prosecutions management had “dropped the ball” in this case.
“In my view, (they) have been negligent in their preparation for this matter,” she said.
“Evidence does not get better over time – with the passage of time, all sorts of problems arise.”
The hearing is due to run for five days starting June 3.
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Originally published as Convicted killer Andrew John Cobby’s fraud case delayed as magistrate says police ‘dropped ball’
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