A teenage foreign exchange student accused of murdering a fellow Chinese national at their host family's Lake Macquarie home last year has pleaded not guilty and will face a trial in NSW Supreme Court.
The now 14-year-old, who cannot be identified, appeared in Broadmeadow Children's Court on Monday charged with the stabbing murder of a 14-year-old girl at a home at Edgeworth on the night of August 4.
The case is extremely complex as the prosecution of a child who is also a foreign national for murder is believed to be unprecedented in Australian legal circles.
The teenager is also said to have a history of mental health issues, with a judge last year remarking that the teenager was on an "extraordinary number of medications" and was "severely unwell".
Lawyers for the teenager have been eager to have the matter progress to the NSW Supreme Court as soon as possible, strongly opposing prosecution applications for lengthy adjournments and repeatedly asking for the earliest date.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had said it was awaiting outstanding evidence from Chinese authorities.
The teenager's lawyers said there was no guarantee the material would be made available and the delay was already "significant" while the teenager languished behind bars.
On Monday, a few weeks after the one-year anniversary of the girl's death, the teenager appeared in court for the first time.
She pleaded not guilty to murder and the matter was committed for trial.
The teenager is expected to be arraigned in the NSW Supreme Court in October, plead not guilty and get a trial date.
As well as the teenager's mental health issues providing a possible defence, the case could also feature a legal principle in NSW called doli incapax. It presumes children aged between 10 and 14 are incapable of forming a criminal intent.
Emergency services were called to an address at Edgeworth just before 10.30pm on August 4 last year.
Police said the two girls, both exchange students from China, and the couple hosting them had retired to their separate bedrooms for the night when the woman heard a commotion.
She entered the older teenager's bedroom and found her with a stab wound to her torso, police said.
NSW Ambulance paramedics treated the girl before she was rushed to hospital in a critical condition, where she later died.
Police arrested the then 13-year-old at the scene and she was taken to Toronto police station.
Officers also seized a kitchen knife for examination.
Lake Macquarie detectives charged the teenager with murder and, with assistance from the Homicide Squad, launched Strike Force Aggnes to investigate the circumstances of the fatal stabbing.
The teenager and the 14-year-old girl who died were both students visiting Australia from China, staying with a couple at Edgeworth, attending school and visiting sites in the Hunter.
They had been in the country for eight days and were due to leave on August 16.
Police said they were not aware of any other relationship between the girls other than that they were part of the same exchange program and staying with the same host family.
