Robert Samuel Geeves.
A married couple accused of murdering their housemate who was a teenager at the time, have been committed to stand trial, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Amber Haigh, disappeared more than two decades ago after last being seen by the married couple.
Robert Samuel Geeves and Anne Margaret Geeves, both 62, pleaded not guilty to murder in the Young Local Court today after the pair had been in custody for more than 12 months.
Mr Geeves was previously also charged with aggravated sexual assault on a victim with serious intellectual disability, but that charge has been withdrawn. With the withdrawal of that charge, it is now unclear what evidence the police had if any to lay it or why it has been withdrawn.
Police are alleging the couple murdered Ms Haigh, a 19-year-old mother, when she was living with them in their home in Kingsvale, in between Harden and Young.
Anne Margaret Geeves.
Ms Haigh has not been seen since June 2002.
In a previous appearance at Court Police allege that they had obtained telephone intercepts of the couple discussing how to hide the body and had evidence that Mr Geeves purchased a chainsaw shortly after the alleged murder.
If true the first piece of evidence is damning, however, the purchase of a piece of machinery is not necessarily connected and police will have to prove that the two are connected.
The Geeves couple were the first to ring the alarm bell about Ms Haigh’s disappearance, reporting her as missing on June 19, 2002, after she failed to return from a trip to Sydney.
Amber Haigh.
At the time, the pair told police they dropped Ms Haigh at a Campbelltown train station in Sydney earlier that month.
Police reviewed the case over the last 18 months and arrested both Robert and Anne Geeves at their property at Harden, in May 2022.
The pair will appear before the Supreme Court in Sydney on July 7.
