Twenty-year-old’s court appearance comes as coroner prepares to release the Palestinian student’s body for repatriation and burial

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The man accused of the rape and murder of Palestinian student Aiia Maasarwe has been remanded in custody until at least June.

Codey Herrmann, 20, made a brief appearance at the Melbourne magistrates court on Monday.

He did not make an application for bail and has been remanded in custody for a committal hearing in June.

Herrmann sat quietly in the dock wearing the same green T-shirt he was wearing in his first court appearance on Saturday.

It is his first time in custody.

'An angel, a diamond': Aiia Maasarwe's Palestinian identity was erased after her death | Jennine Khalik Read more

Maasarwe, 21, was found dead behind bushes next to the car park of the Polaris shopping centre just off Main Drive in Bundoora on Wednesday morning.

The Israeli citizen, who was studying at La Trobe College on exchange from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, had attended a comedy club in North Melbourne on Tuesday night before catching the 86 tram home and alighting at the stop at the corner Plenty Road and Main Drive about midnight.

She was found a short distance from the tram stop and less than 1km from her off-campus apartment on Main Drive.

Herrmann was arrested in Greensborough on Friday and has been charged with murder and one count of rape.

Details of the allegations and Maasarwe’s injuries have not been released out of consideration for her family.

The coroner was expected to release her body for repatriation and burial late Monday.

Her father, Saeed Maasarwe, arrived in Melbourne on Thursday and attended several public vigils for his daughter, who he described as “all the time smiling”.

“She loved people, she had very big opinions, her mind open for everything,” he told reporters on Friday.

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“She liked to study different cultures, different nationality. She didn’t come with closed mind.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Saeed Maasarwe attends a vigil for his daughter on the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne on Friday. Photograph: Stefan Postles/AAP

Several thousand people took part in vigils around Melbourne on Friday and Sunday, including filling the 86 tram with flowers for the 50-minute journey to the site where she was killed. Her death was also a focus of the Women’s March in Sydney on Sunday.

Maasarwe was on the phone to one of her younger sisters when she was allegedly attacked, police said.

Her older sister, Noor Maasarwe, told reporters at a protest in their home city of Baqa al-Gharbiyye that she learned of the death on the news.

• The National Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Counselling Service hotline in Australia is 1800 737 732