A Launceston man who was on bail allegedly punched a relative and stole his motor vehicle on the day he travelled to Reedy Marsh where he allegedly murdered Michael Hawkes and grievously wounded Judith Ann Hawkes in January 2021.
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Robert Harold Gerard, 48, is believed to have died in custody last week.
Defence counsel Greg Richardson told the Launceston Magistrates Court that he was appearing for Mr Gerard.
"I now represent his estate, he has passed away," he said.
Magistrate Sharon Cure dismissed all charges.
The Director of Prisons Ian Thomas last week said that there had been a death in custody overnight on May 23.
A Department of Justice spokesperson told The Examiner on Monday after publication of Gerard's death on social media: "The Department cannot make further comment due to the matter being the subject of examination by the Coroner".
Gerard had several serious charges in train at the time of the murder.
On January 29, Gerard faced the Launceston Magistrates Court charged with a count of wounding Jeremy William Shea, 39, with a knife on Wednesday, January 29, 2020.
Police opposed bail on February 3.
Prosecutor Felicity Radin told Magistrate Simon Brown that Gerard had consumed alcohol and cannabis with Mr Shea at Gerard's property at Tasman Highway, Waverley.
About 7.30pm, Gerard grabbed a knife attached to a stick and waved it at the victim causing a large laceration in the lower abdomen.
The victim made it to the footpath outside where he was treated by Tasmania Ambulance.
"The victim's stomach was external to his body and will require further surgery. He is lucky to be alive," Ms Radin said.
She told the court that Gerard fled and was sleeping in a park to avoid apprehension after the stabbing.
In bail opposition, Ms Radin said that in February 2018 Gerard received a five and a half month suspended jail term for an unprovoked assault on a female hotel manager by kicking her to the head.
He had a knife at the time.
"He has alcohol and drug dependency issues and a volatile nature and poses a risk to the public," Ms Radin said.
Mr Brown refused bail saying that it was a very serious example of the offence of wounding. "I am satisfied that he would not attend court if bailed and that it is contrary to the public interest to release him," he said.
"Members of the public would be at risk of violent offending.
"The defendant's priors [offences] are a concern with a number of assaults and resisting police. He fairly recently received a wholly suspended sentence in relation to an assault when he had a knife."
Crown prosecutor Jennifer Slevin opposed bail in the Supreme Court on February 24 citing the bayonet type knife.
Justice Robert Pearce said it would be a long time until the matter got to trial but said he could not bail him unless the surety, his mother Anna Gerard, was present.
He was remanded in custody to reappear in the Supreme Court on March 10, 2020.
The Supreme Court had a backlog of 690 cases in 2020.
On March 5, Gerard pleaded not guilty in the Magistrates Court and was committed to the Supreme Court for trial and remanded in custody by Magistrate Ken Stanton.
Gerard was bailed in the Supreme Court on March 10, 2020, with a cash surety.
Just a fortnight later on March 21, he was charged with having a machete in public and with driving offences including driving with methylamphetamine in his body.
Gerard was charged with breaching a family violence order in December 2020 by assaulting the same woman by kicking her in the stomach.
He also breached the order by threatening to take her to the bush and rip her baby from her guts and leave her to die.
He also faced an allegation of aggravated assault on the same woman at Deloraine between January 1 and January 12, 2021, by kicking her to the stomach knowing she was pregnant at the time and a count of destroying the woman's mobile phone.
In one of the dismissed charges, police allege Gerard unlawfully assaulted Paul Gerard by punching him in the face.
He was also charged with motor vehicle stealing on January 12 for driving a Toyota Tarago without the consent of Paul Gerard.
The same day he allegedly murdered Michael Hawkes and wounded Judith Hawkes by hitting her on the head with a club at Reedy Marsh.
Police allege that between January 12 and January 13 he committed the crime of aggravated burglary at a home in nearby Parkham where he stole a jacket, boots, alcohol, keys, a bucket and a knife to the value of $490.
In a Supreme Court appearance in February 2021 the court heard that an application to revoke his bail had been filed but adjourned.
Gerard, who was housed at the Wilfred Lopes Centre, intervened in the appearance to say that other people would be getting in trouble for "setting me up, the guy stabbed himself in the stomach".
In recent appearances, the court heard that a forensic mental health report was being prepared for Gerard.
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Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
