A court in Australia Wednesday remanded a woman, charged with the murder of an India-born businessman last month, to custody till the next hearing of the case Nov 5.
The Southport Magistrates Court in Gold Coast city in the Australian state of Queensland remanded Melissa Shaw, 27, to custody for the murder of Shyam Dhody July 5, local media reported.
Dhody, 37, was shot dead while he was in his bed in his home at Gilston, a suburb of Gold Coast city.
Shaw was reportedly Dhody's partner and had claimed that she found his body after she returned from work the evening of the incident.
On Tuesday morning, police took Shaw to Southport police station in Gold Coast and formally charged her with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder.
Hours later, police arrived at the Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane to speak to a 32-year-old man, Adam Gooley.
Gooley, who was under guard after undergoing heart surgery, was also charged with murder and attempted murder.
Police had suspected that Dhody's murder may be linked to an assault on him outside his previous home at the Gold Coast suburb of Molendinar March 26 this year.
Dhody had moved to the Gilston home after that assault.
After making Australia his adoptive country, Dhody had run into major financial problems with banks repossessing several of his properties.
The arrests for his murder came after extensive investigations involving a large police task force.
In her court appearance Wednesday, a handcuffed Shaw appeared bedraggled and showed no emotion.
Shaw has claimed she is not guilty and her solicitor Jason Jacobson has said that his client would apply for bail in the Queensland Supreme Court.
"Ms Shaw has faith that the charges will be discontinued just as soon as the court has an opportunity to examine the evidence in this case," The Courier Mail quoted Jacobson as saying after Wednesday's hearing.
According to media reports, police believe Dhody's murder to be an outcome of a love triangle.
The victim's two brothers and parents had reached Gold Coast from India July 15 and had made a fervent appeal to the people to help find his killer.
Dhody had arrived in Australia 13 years ago and his wife and two children, aged eight and five, live in India.
