Two Irish men have appeared in court in Australia charged with murder.

24-year-old Christopher McLaughlin and 21-year-old Nathan Kelly appeared via video-link before Burwood Local Court in Sydney this morning.

The pair, both from County Donegal, had already appeared in court charged with assaulting a 66-year-old man in the Summer Hill area of the city on December 29th.

The charge was upgraded to murder after the man died in hospital on Monday.

Attack

Sally Rawsthorne, crime reporter with the Sydney Morning Herald, said the men were originally charged with grievous bodily harm.

“Basically these two men allegedly assaulted a 66-year-old man outside of their Summerhill share house at the end of last year, on the 29th of December,” she said.

“On Monday, he died so the charges have been upgraded to murder and that was heard in court today.”

Video link

She said the video link appearance is “standard procedure” for people on remand ahead of trial in Australia.

She said Mr McLaughlin appeared by video from Long Bay prison hospital – while Mr Kelly is currently at Silverwater remand facility, which is Sydney’s largest prison.

She said details of the attack itself remain scarce as the men have yet to enter a plea.

“What we do know at this stage is that two men allegedly assaulted a 66-year-old man named Paul Tavelardis at the Inner West in Sydney at about lunch time on the 29th December,” she said.

“Mr Tavelardis was taken to hospital where on Monday his family made the decision to switch off his life support and he died.”

She said Mr Tavelardis may have been living in his car at the time of the attack after returning from a long trip to Central Australia.

The Irish pair have only been in Australia since May of last year.

They are due appear in court again in eight week’s time.