Prosecutors have been given more time to prepare their case against a man accused of deliberately lighting a fatal fire in a western Sydney nursing home.
Registered nurse Roger Kingsley Dean chose not to appear as his case was mentioned in Central Local Court this morning.
The 35-year-old remains in custody charged with 10 counts of murder over the fire at Quakers Hill in November.
Police have formally linked 11 deaths to the fire, but since November several other residents have died and further charges could be laid.
Today in court prosecutors were given another six weeks to prepare their case.
The court heard investigators are sifting through 2,700 pages of material and images.
The evidence in the case was described as "a literal mountain of material".
Relatives of one of the victims, 73-year-old Alma Smith, were in the public gallery.
Outside court her daughter Donna Austin said she is still coming to terms with the tragedy.
"We're just confused, frustrated, hurt," she said.
A spokesman for Domain Principal, the company that runs the home, was also in the public gallery.
He handed out copies of a statement confirming that sprinkler systems have now been fitted in the 59 homes the company runs across Australia.
Sprinklers were not installed when the Quakers Hill home was built in the 1980s.
The statement says the company has decided retrofitting the homes is the "right thing to do".
Systems are now required in new nursing homes in New South Wales, and the State Government is considering making them compulsory.
They have been mandatory in nursing homes in Queensland and Victoria for a decade.
Topics: courts-and-trials, murder-and-manslaughter, arson, police, quakers-hill-2763, sydney-2000 First posted February 16, 2012 11:24:05 Wright By:kevin,Tags:ed hardyed hardy clothingChristian Audigier
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