Blessie murder-accused trial to start in April

Blessie Gotingco.

The trial for the man accused of murdering Auckland woman Blessie Gotingco now looks likely to begin at the end of April.

He appeared in the High Court at Auckland this morning for a pre-trial hearing and two further hearings were arranged to take place in the next six weeks.

The nature of those hearings cannot be detailed and Justice Helen Winkelmann continued the suppression orders covering the identity of the murder accused.

The Crown added a charge of sexual violation to join the murder charge on December 17.

Mrs Gotingco, a 56-year-old mother of three, was last seen leaving her workplace, Tower Insurance in the CBD, about 7pm on May 24.

She took a bus from Lower Albert St to Birkdale Rd and it is thought she was walking the short distance home when she encountered her alleged attacker.

The defendant lived within a couple of kilometres from Mrs Gotingco's Salisbury Rd home and less than a kilometre from the bus stop she got off at.

Mrs Gotingco's body was found in an area of bush at the Birkenhead-Glenfield cemetery on Eskdale Rd.

The trial looks set to start on April 28.