A COURT has heard the evidence against a mother charged with the historical murder of her baby in Scone spans 6,000 pages.
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The 43-year-old mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared in Tamworth Local Court on Wednesday morning, flanked by her partner.
The woman is charged in connection to the mysterious disappearance and alleged murder of her 16-month-old daughter at Scone between 2000 and 2001.
Her Legal Aid-appointed solicitor Patrick Kennedy told the court he'd only recently received a disc of evidence which had taken "close to two days" to print.
"It's a brief in excess of 6,000 pages," he said.
"I've met [the accused] this morning for the first time.
"It's a complicated matter of some history."
Mr Kennedy said he had been trying to speak with "counsel briefed in previous coronial inquiries" but she is on leave.
His request for a two month adjournment was flatly rejected by Magistrate Roger Prowse who said the brief had been served when the matter was last in court seven weeks ago.
"Well it's entirely and utterly unsatisfactory," he said, criticising the delays across the justice system.
"If you put the justice system and a dead snail in a race you'd bet on the dead snail.
"Why did it take so long to get out of the Legal Aid office up to Mr Kennedy's office?"
Legal Aid Commission solicitor Rae Parker responded and said it had been a lengthy process with various solicitors involved, including some from the North Coast, where the woman lives.
"However, they have not satisfied the requirement for a grant of Legal Aid," she told the court.
Ms Parker said it "was in no way Mr Kennedy's difficulty" but said a newly announced public defender position to be based in Tamworth could take on the case, or more senior counsel for "such a serious allegation".
Mr Prowse adjourned the case to late-August for a committal.
"Your bail is to continue between now and then," he told the woman.
"Thank you Your Honour," the woman's partner yelled from the back of the court.
According to court documents, the woman allegedly murdered her daughter between Christmas Day in 2000, and February 28, 2001.
A detective from Strike Force Kununa - the police operation launched by Hunter Valley detectives and the state's Homicide Squad to investigated the alleged murder - was also in court for the case's mention.
The 16-month-old toddler disappeared from her mother's former home in Scone in January, 2001, but wasn't reported missing until 2004.
Her remains have never been found.
The woman has been on conditional bail since March, shortly after her arrest in Evans Head on the North Coast.
