Lawyers for a man accused of stabbing another to death on a busy Darwin strip last month have questioned the prosecution over missing CCTV footage.
Jeremy Cooper, 28, was charged with murder after a 36-year-old man died in hospital after being stabbed outside Darwin Woolworths in September.
His lawyer Peter Maley said the Department of Public Prosecutions had not yet handed over CCTV footage, despite police telling media it existed.
"The police issue press releases, they've seemingly shown CCTV footage to the media ... they've referred to it being captured, but to the very person who is facing a murder charge, they haven't produced it," Mr Maley said in Darwin Local Court on Wednesday.
"This is absolutely crucial and completely unacceptable."
Mr Maley said he asked the prosecution several times to hand over the footage and was told the prosecution did not have it.
Prosecution lawyers said they could not speak for the actions of the police media unit but were ordered to hand over any footage by December 6.
Cooper was arrested and charged with murder, weapons and drug possession charges 36 hours after the incident in September.
The 36-year-old victim was walking down a busy strip outside Woolworths in Darwin City at 11.30pm on a Saturday when he was stabbed in the stomach.
Police say the victim was with a group while Cooper was alone.
"I'm not sure of their history, but they were certainly talking to each other earlier," Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Morrissey said at the time.
The stabbed man was driven to Royal Darwin Hospital in a critical condition but later died.
He was from Wadeye community but had been living in Darwin for some time.
Cooper will return to court on January 10 next year.
