Alleged victim's name added to murder charge

Homeless woman Barbara Campbell was allegedly murdered outside of the Countdown supermarket in New Brighton. Photo / George Heard

Name suppression continues for the man charged with the murder of a homeless woman in New Brighton, but the official court paperwork now has the name of the alleged victim.

The original charge sheet alleged the 43-year-old man had murdered "a person unknown".

At the request of Crown prosecutor Pip Currie, Christchurch High Court Judge, Justice Cameron Mander today amended the charge to add the name Barbara Campbell.

The woman was known to people locally as Rose but police later publicly identified her as 46-year-old Campbell.

The man charged remains in custody and at the request of defence counsel Kerryn Beaton QC two reports by health assessors have now been ordered under the Criminal Procedures (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act.

Justice Mander remanded him to appear next in the High Court on February 25. His appearance at the High Court was excused. Lawyers appeared by video link.

The man was charged with murder after being taken into custody at the scene where Campbell had been found unresponsive in a carpark in New Brighton late on January 12. She died while being transported to the hospital.

The man's name was suppressed when he made his first appearance in the Christchurch District Court and that order was continued today by Justice Mander without opposition.