The man accused of murdering 25-year-old Thomas Coombes on an Auckland footpath is still too unwell to appear in court.
Police said Coombes’ body was found by a member of the public on Roy Clements Treeway in Mt Albert about 6.45pm on May 24.
The crime scene was only metres away from several large Auckland schools.
A man, who has interim name suppression, was arrested, charged with murder, and was supposed to appear in the Auckland District Court on May 30 but did not make his appearance due to being "acutely unwell".
He was remanded in custody at the Mason Clinic - Auckland's regional forensic psychiatric service - and the matter was adjourned to today in the High Court in Auckland.
But today the man’s lawyer Julie-Anne Kincade told the court he was still “too clinically unwell’ to appear in court.
He was remanded in custody again until July. He is yet to enter a plea.
Today the judge acknowledged family members who were attending in person and watching the hearing virtually.
The family of Coombes said after his death "he was living a happy and beautiful life... [that] was taken from him, and from all of us who love him, in a cruel act of violence".
They described him as "a keen sportsman, with a genuine interest in and love for his family and many friends".
He was walking home from university, where he was studying photography and "following his passion after becoming a qualified builder", when he was attacked, they said.
His life was honoured on May 31 by a gathering of about 700 people at Bethells Beach.
“Tom was a young man who followed his dreams, and we want his life to inspire other young people to do the same,” said his mother Rowena Coombes.
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