A man accused of brutally killing a Canberra grandmother more than two decades ago has been denied bail despite a court accepting his human rights were breached in prison.
Steve Fabriczy, 69, will remain in custody following his failed release bid.
He is expected to fight a murder charge, and related home invasion allegations, at a trial alongside co-accused Joseph Vekony, 68.
The two Melbourne men allegedly killed 72-year-old Irma Palasics, bashed husband Gregor, and ransacked the couple's McKellar home on November 6, 1999.
Members of the couple's family present in court burst into tears and quietly cheered following Chief Justice Lucy McCallum's bail decision.
Human rights breach
During the ACT Supreme Court bail application held on Tuesday, it was revealed Canberra's jail had for many years allowed the human rights breach that led to Fabriczy's application being heard.
Due to the nature of his alleged crime, the man was first required to prove special or exceptional circumstances existed in his case for a bail application to be entertained.
That step was quickly achieved when the court accepted the accused man had been housed with sentenced prisoners in jail, breaching the territory's Human Rights Act.
"As a matter of practice, that restriction has not been complied with since shortly after the AMC opened," a representative of the Alexander Maconochie Centre told the court last week during a different bail application held over the same issue.
The jail opened in 2008.
Chief Justice McCallum said she was satisfied with the findings made by Justice David Mossop in that previous bail hearing about the breach issue.
Flight risk
Prosecutor Trent Hickey opposed the bid for conditional release, citing concerns about the Hungarian-Australian dual citizen fleeing the country or interfering with evidence.
"The accused was deceptive to police about the existence of a Hungarian passport," the prosecutor said.
The court heard Fabriczy had recently visited Hungary for several months and also transferred about $215,000 into a Hungarian bank account.
Police suspect the man is interested in purchasing a property in the European country and it's alleged Fabriczy has previously indicated plans to retire there.
"He clearly has a significant amount of money and ability to fund travel," Mr Hickey said.
Defence barrister Jack Pappas proposed strict bail conditions for Fabriczy to live in his Melbourne home, including curfew, daily reporting to police and even the wearing of a monitoring ankle bracelet.
"Designed to ensure this man really can't go anywhere," he said.
"It's hard to imagine a regime that would be more restrictive."
Chief Justice McCallum ultimately refused the application due to concerns about Fabriczy's flight risk, which she did not believe was ameliorated by the proposed bail conditions.
The court heard several concerns about the ankle bracelet, how it could be cut, and the possible delay in being able to find and arrest Fabriczy if he tried to escape its monitoring.
The judge noted if found guilty of his crimes by a jury, Fabriczy was likely to spend the majority, if not the entirety, of his remaining years in prison.
The alleged murder case
The investigation into Mrs Palasics' murder had been mostly fruitless until Fabriczy's DNA, said to have been taken years earlier by Victorian police, was allegedly matched by the Australian Federal Police in mid-2020.
Fabriczy was arrested and extradited to the ACT in September last year. Vekony would join him in custody two months later.
On Tuesday, it was revealed police had looked into about 300 persons of interest during the long-running investigation before arresting the pair.
Details of an undercover sting, including a fictitious crime syndicate and corrupt police officer, which lead to the arrests, were previously revealed through court documents.
It's alleged the elderly couple were bound with cable ties and viciously beaten as their home was ransacked. Mr Palasics survived but by the time his wife's bindings were removed, she had passed away.
Fabriczy and Vekony have each denied further charges relating to the alleged home invasion, said to have netted them $30,000 worth of jewellery and cash, including armed robbery, unlawfully confining a person, and assault.
According to court documents, police believe the home invasion was the third of "a deliberate and targeted" series of burglaries on the Palasicses' home dating back to 1997.
