A man who died after a fight in St Marys overnight was found “unconscious and unresponsive” on the main road through the small east coast town when emergency services arrived.
The 65-year-old Fingal Valley man passed away at around 6:30pm on Tuesday following the alleged altercation, which police believe involved two people who were known to each other.
Detective Acting Inspector Rob King said a suspect was taken into custody a couple of hundred meters from the scene and is assisting police with their enquiries.
“The man is obviously cooperating with police in terms of being in our custody and he’s not resisting in any way, but at this stage we have not formally interviewed him,” he said.
“We believe that he also is a Fingal Valley resident … but the nature of their relationship is not firmly known to police.”
On Wednesday night, police confirmed a 57-year-old St Marys man had been charged with murder.
He remains in custody and will appear in the Launceston Magistrates Court on Thursday morning.
Inspector King earlier on Wednesday afternoon said it would be “inappropriate” to confirm the weapons involved in the incident, whether it was drug-related and the extent of the victim’s injuries.
“This is obviously a very sad situation and has a severe impact on such a small community,” he said.
“At that particular time there were members of the public in the area, a number of whom witnessed the incident and … we would like to speak to those people that saw something or heard something.”
‘The purpose of the investigation is to determine whether a person is criminally responsible for the injuries that led to the death of this male and that’s what our investigation is aimed at.”
