Guilty plea expected in Vic girl's killing

11 Jul 2012, 3:40 pm   -   Source: AAP

A Melbourne court has heard that the man accused in the 1992 killing of schoolgirl Prudence Bird is expected to plead guilty.

The man accused of murdering Melbourne schoolgirl Prudence Bird more than 20 years ago is expected to plead guilty, a court has heard.

Leslie Alfred Camilleri, 42, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with the murder of Prudence, 13, who went missing from her Glenroy home in February 1992.

Prudence's mother, Jenny Bird, was in court for the brief hearing.

Chief Crown Prosecutor Gavin Silbert SC told the court Camilleri is expected to plead guilty in the Victorian Supreme Court later this month.

The court was told there was still some dispute about the facts of the case.

Camilleri told magistrate Simon Garnett he did not want to enter a plea on Wednesday.

Under Victorian law a person cannot reserve their plea, so Mr Garnett entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

Camilleri's lawyer, Jacqui Kennedy, told the court last month that while Camilleri had made admissions to Prudence's murder, there was a dispute about the motive and how the murder was carried out.

Police alleged at a hearing in February that Prudence was murdered between February 2 and February 11, 1992, as payback for evidence given by a key prosecution witness over Melbourne's Russell Street bombing.

Police were granted permission earlier this year to interview Russell Street bomber Craig Minogue over the disappearance.

Police conducted a three-day search for Prudence's remains near Flat Rock Creek, north of the town of Cann River in far East Gippsland, in February.

But the search was called off after officers found nothing.

Camilleri will appear in the Supreme Court on July 31.

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube