Shattered and helpless, the family of alleged murder victim Ricky Slater-Dickson say they want answers about the 34-year-old's death and justice for a man they say was turning his life around.

More than a dozen of Mr Slater-Dickson's loved ones gathered outside Newcastle courthouse on Monday morning to air their grief, outline the "horrific" injuries he suffered and dispute allegations he had broken into a house in Cleary Street in the lead-up to his death.

Inside, only a few minutes earlier, Benjamin Batterham, 33, the man accused of Mr Slater-Dickson's murder, had declined to come up from the courthouse cells or apply for bail. He will reappear in Newcastle Local Court on Tuesday.

Mr Slater-Dickson, 34, died on Sunday, a day after he was allegedly discovered breaking into a house in Cleary Street at Hamilton.