A former X Factor Australia contestant charged with the murder of a nine-month-old girl has been battling cancer but is now in remission, a court has been told.
Mitchell Callaway was arrested last year after a five-year police investigation into the death of the child at Binnaway in central western NSW in July 2018.
Mr Callaway was arrested in Bowraville on the NSW Mid North Coast and spent six months in custody on remand before being granted bail by the NSW Supreme Court in December last year.
He was released on conditions including that he report daily to police, live with his parents at Bowraville and provide a $600,000 surety.
The court was told on Friday that Mr Callaway had been battling cancer.
“My present understanding is that is a condition in remission,” Mr Callaway’s solicitor, Stephen Dickens, told the court.
Emergency services were called to a Binnaway home after the baby girl was unresponsive.
She was rushed by paramedics to Coonabarabran Hospital but died a short time later.
Police set up Strike Force King to investigate the young girl’s death and in June last year Mr Callaway was arrested and charged with murder.
His matter returned to the Supreme Court on Friday as he made an application to vary his bail conditions to reduce his obligations to report to police.
The application was opposed by the Crown prosecution, citing concerns from the officer in charge of the investigation of the risk of Mr Callaways interfering with witnesses, the court was told.
However, Mr Dickens said there was “no evidence before the court” that his client knew where the key witnesses lived.
“Over a period of exceeding six years that the state has been investigating this matter, there has been no suggestion of any interference of any kind,” Mr Dickens told the court.
Justice Tim Faulkner questioned whether it was possible for Mr Callaway to report to police four days a week via a landline telephone from his parents’ property in a bid to ameliorate the burden on him.
The matter will return to court on Friday afternoon, with Justice Faulkner to make a decision on the bail variation application.
Mr Callaway competed in the third season of X Factor in 2011 before he was eliminated from the competition in week 6.
