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A Western Victorian man is accused of a brutal murder that spanned multiple crime scenes, with the elderly victim found with dozens of injuries, a court has been told.
Robert Beck has been charged with murder after the body of a man in his 80s was found on Monday morning off the Henty Highway at Jung, near Horsham in the state’s north-west.
The 49-year-old Minyip man was arrested after a two-and-half-hour stand-off with police while armed with a knife at Horsham on Monday evening, police say.
Beck faced Horsham Magistrates’ Court for a brief administrative hearing on Wednesday morning after being charged overnight.
A prosecutor told Magistrate Timothy Hoare there were multiple crime scenes that covered an “extensive geographical range”, with police needing to speak to witnesses and find CCTV footage.
The deceased sustained “approximately 24 injuries”, the prosecutor told the court.
Large numbers of phone downloads, DNA and other forensic exhibits needed to be examined, she added.
Defence lawyer Gemma Ross-McGlynn said her client had schizophrenia, bipolar and borderline personality disorder and had to be assessed for medication.
He also identified as Aboriginal, she told the court.
The accused will return to court on a separate issue next week, but is expected to face the Supreme Court in July.
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