
1. A man has been charged over the death of Melbourne woman Courtney Herron.
A homeless man has been charged over the death of Courtney Herron, who was brutally murdered in a Melbourne park two days ago.
The man, 27, of no fixed address, was arrested on Sunday and charged overnight with one count of murder and will appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday, Victoria Police said in a statement.
The battered body of Ms Herron, 25, was found by dog walkers in Royal Park in the inner Melbourne suburb of Parkville on Saturday morning.
Police said she had suffered extreme violence.
“This was a particularly, particularly horrendous attack,” Homicide squad Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper said on Sunday.
He said there had been some attempt made to conceal the body.
Ms Herron had been couch surfing and sleeping rough for some time while struggling with drug and mental health issues.
Insp Stamper said she had been in sporadic contact with her family and there were “a lot of people out there who knew and loved Courtney”.
“When there’s a child that suffered drug use, mental health issues, family relationships can be fragmented,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean that families out there don’t love their children, and you know, our heart breaks for them.
“We are dealing with a heartbroken family again.”
Speaking to the media on Saturday, Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius said “Violence against women is absolutely about men’s behaviour, it’s not about women’s behaviour”.