Henry Richard Hammond. Credit:Facebook Mr Hammond appeared in court on Monday shoeless and with a black eye. He smiled before being remanded in custody to face the Melbourne Magistrates Court again in September. The defendant, originally from New South Wales, is also homeless and may have mental health issues, the court heard. Police faced a difficult task in identifying Ms Herron, who had been sleeping rough. Friends and a former boyfriend said her family had spent years trying to rescue her from a heroin addiction. On Monday afternoon, Ms Herron’s distressed mother and grandmother made an emotional visit to Royal Park, leaving flowers and messages.

Her grandmother fell to her knees and cried "Why, why?" at the site where Ms Herron's body was found. Ms Herron was raised in Melbourne's northern suburbs in a Greek-Australian family. She had a brother and a sister. Courtney Herron's mother weeps at the site of her death in Royal Park as her grandmother and other family members stand by. A note left by her family reads: “To our beloved Courky. Forever in our hearts. Find internal peace with Pappou [Greek for grandfather]. You will be forever safe with him.” Her uncle and aunty wrote, “You have been taken from us too soon. May you find rest and peace.”

Courtney Herron struggled with heroin addiction for a number of years and had been sleeping rough in Royal Park. The family also released a statement: "We are heartbroken by the loss of our daughter. Courtney has a family who love and care about her. The loss has devastated our entire family." Friends said Ms Herron had been sleeping in Royal Park. She was a private schoolgirl who had left Genazzano College in year 9 and had told friends she'd previously worked for the Department of Health and Human Services in Preston. They described her as a kind-hearted young woman in the grips of addiction who dreamed of getting clean. “She knew her family loved her and she said how lucky she was, how grateful she was that they tried to help her,” her friend Jessica Bateman said.

“She was a person at the end of the day, just like all of us. She was just trying to get by.” Ms Herron had told Ms Bateman that she was on waiting lists for housing and could not get on the methadone program, prescribed to treat heroin addiction, without a stable address. Tributes left in Royal Park by Ms Herron's family. Credit:Paul Jeffers She was scared of withdrawal, Ms Bateman said, but wanted to try to get clean. She had been sleeping on friends' couches for several months before sleeping rough. “Addiction is a disease,” Ms Bateman said.

“It only progresses – you end up in jail, an institution, homeless or dead – and we as a community have to band together because it’s so detrimental to the addict to feel so marginalised and to have this drug-using stigma.” Ms Herron's former boyfriend, Ahmet Ozkurt, said she had a great sense of humour. However, he said she had struggled with addiction for about seven years, which had strained her relationship with family and friends who had battled to help her back onto the right path. “They tried to help many times, [picking her up] from hospital, her mother and grandparents, but they couldn’t stop the drugs,” he said. Courtney Herron with her former boyfriend Ahmet Ozkurt.

The pair broke up last year, but he said they kept in contact. "She lived with me for two years in a house in Pascoe Vale ... I was looking after her all the time." Mr Ozkurt, 30, originally from Turkey, said the pair met through a mutual friend and were together for three years. He last spoke to Ms Herron a few months ago. "She was alright and doing good but I don't know what kind of people she hung out with," he said. He found out about Ms Herron's death when he saw her picture on the news over the weekend.

"I still can't believe it. It's so cruel, so terrible. I'm just shocked. "She was not a bad person, she was a good person. She was funny and friendly." It’s understood Ms Herron was well-known to local mental health and drug and alcohol treatment services in inner-city Melbourne, including a history of engagement with the Royal Melbourne Hospital. She had been accessing treatment there for several years. It’s believed Ms Herron’s grandmother was one of the last family members to try to care for the young woman before she became homeless. Messages left for Courtney Herron. Credit:Paul Jeffers