The man accused of raping and murdering Gillian Meagher has appeared in court and has been remanded to reappear in January.
Minutes before Adrian Ernest Bayley, 41, of Coburg was brought into court, Ms Meagher’s husband Thomas and brother Michael McKeon entered the courtroom and sat alongside homicide detectives in the packed court’s front row. Man charged over Jill's disappearance Grave site shows barely a sign of the horror Family, colleagues left heartbroken Experts warn of 'trial by social media' risk
Mr Meagher glanced in the direction of the prisoner's dock several times during the six-minute hearing.
Outside court, Mr Meagher said: "I just wanted to say very briefly that despite the fact that this is the worst thing we’ll ever go through in our lives, I've been really humbled by the support from the Australian public, the fine efforts of police and all of the friends, family who’ve put their lives on hold to help us out.
"And while I appreciate all the support, I would just like to mention that negative comments on social media may hurt legal proceedings, so please be mindful of that.
"I would also like to say that if the media could respect the privacy of the Meaghers and the McKeons at this time that would be brilliant, thank you."
The hearing had earlier been delayed to give her family time to talk to police and the prosecutor.
Bayley was charged in an out-of-sessions court hearing early this morning with the rape and murder of Ms Meagher in Brunswick on Saturday morning.
Police found Ms Meagher's body buried beside a dirt road in Gisborne South, about 45 kilometres north-west of Melbourne late last night. The grave is just metres from the road.
The remote area is surrounded by paddocks and is about a 40-minute drive from where Ms Meagher was last captured on CCTV footage walking north along Sydney Road in Brunswick.
While the area is remote, there are farm houses within about one kilometre of the grave.
The coroner removed Ms Meagher's body from the scene about 4am today, and an autopsy will be carried out to determine her exact cause of death.
Bayley accompanied police to the grave last night and remained there for about 1½ hours, before he was taken back to the St Kilda Road police complex, where he faced an out-of-sessions court hearing about 2.30am.
Police allege Bayley was the man in a blue hoodie seen on CCTV footage walking towards Ms Meagher, just before she went missing early on Saturday morning.
A tattooed Bayley appeared at the session wearing a navy blue shirt and jeans, and had his left hand clasped over his face throughout.
He was arrested in Coburg yesterday afternoon in connection with Ms Meagher's disappearance and was questioned at the police's St Kilda Road headquarters.
Ms Meagher, 29, who moved with her husband from Ireland to Melbourne three years ago, was abducted while walking home alone from a bar in Sydney Road.
She had left Bar Etiquette at 1.33am on Saturday after drinking with ABC colleagues and planned to walk to the nearby flat she shared with her husband.Ms Meagher’s uncle, Michael McKeon, said the family was trying to cope with an unimaginable loss.‘‘We are devastated, we are heartbroken,’’ Mr McKeon said in a statement.‘‘She was the first grandchild my mother had, and her aunties, uncles and cousins are powerless to describe their loss. There are no words to describe how we feel at what has happened.‘‘We had hoped yesterday when there was no evidence of foul play, but when the man in the CCTV footage was arrested we feared the worst.’’Ms Meagher's ABC colleagues also expressed their devastation today.Amid the outpouring of grief, floral tributes have today been left outside the bridal shop in Sydney Road, where Ms Meagher was last seen.
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