Stuart Lee: Man accused of Wheatsheaf fire murder refuses to face court

A Victorian man has refused to face court on a murder charge after allegedly setting another man on fire during an argument.

Lawyers acting for Stuart Lee, 63, appeared before the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court shortly after 3pm on Wednesday following the alleged incident in Wheatsheaf, a small rural area about 100km northwest of Melbourne on Tuesday morning.

Defence lawyer Andrew Mitra requested the court deal with filing the charges against his client without him present.

“I seek leave that this be determined in my client’s absence,” he told Magistrate Hugh Radford.

“He doesn’t want to come up.”

Mr Mitra told the court it was Mr Lee’s first time in custody and he had a number of health conditions which would need to be managed.

Police will allege they were called to a Wallaby Rd property at about 10.25am to reports of an altercation which escalated when a 69-year-old Wheatsheaf man was “set alight”.

The alleged victim was flown to The Alfred hospital in Melbourne on Tuesday but died overnight.

A police prosecutor told the court Mr Lee had been charged with attempted murder and recklessly causing injury after his arrest and interview, but a new charge of murder was laid on Wednesday to replace those charges.

“The (alleged) victim sadly passed away overnight,” he said.

Mr Lee, also from Wheatsheaf, was remanded into custody by Mr Radford and will return to the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on June 1.

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