A NSW Supreme Court judge says she has "grave concerns" about the investigation into the alleged murder of Leisl Smith, who disappeared without a trace after leaving her home at Wallarah, on the Central Coast, in August 2012.
James Scott Church, now 51, on Monday pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Smith, who was 23 when she was last seen, and faced the first day of what is expected to be a lengthy judge-alone trial in Sydney Supreme Court. But the prosecution did not open their case and the evidence is not expected to commence for at least a week after delays in detectives serving the brief of evidence, the court heard.
In 2020, Justice Elizabeth Fullerton delivered a stern warning to prosecutors to get their act together after they intended to call 345 witnesses to prove their circumstantial case against Mr Church.
And on Monday she was left frustrated again after potentially crucial witness statements, that the defence said could exculpate Mr Church, were served in December, years after Mr Church was first committed for trial.
"It is reaching the point where I have grave concerns that there has been appropriate attention given by the police to preparing this matter," Justice Fullerton said.
The experienced Supreme Court judge made it clear the trial would not be adjourned and she would be delivering a verdict in these sittings one way or the other.
Ms Smith was last seen alive on CCTV getting into the car of Mr Church, the man whose unborn child she claimed to be carrying, at Tuggerah railway station on the Central Coast on the afternoon of August 19, 2012, prosecutors said during a bail application for Mr Church in 2019.
Mr Church was arrested in 2018 after an extensive investigation with police alleging he "lured" her into his car on the promise of providing her a home and then drove her towards Sandy Hollow.
It's alleged that he killed her and dumped her body sometime on August 19 or 20, although no body has been found, nor has a cause of death been identified.
Mr Church previously told police he picked Ms Smith up at her request, told her the relationship between them was over, and dropped her off in Wyong near the home of her boyfriend.
The 2019 bail hearing heard that in the months before her disappearance Ms Smith told Mr Church's then-girlfriend that she was pregnant with his child and the baby was due in December. It is the prosecution case that Mr Church killed Ms Smith because of the damage she was doing to his reputation.
I have grave concerns that there has been appropriate attention given by the police to preparing this matter.
Justice Elizabeth Fullerton said on Monday.
