Tobias Friedrich Moran, accused of murdering his former German backpacker girlfriend, will remain free on bail after prosecutors decided not to proceed with an arrest warrant. The 42-year-old magistrate was released today and can now return to Western Australia from where he was extradited.
Bail conditions stipulate that he must report to police three days a week and must not communicate through encrypted websites.
Tobias Moran, formerly known as Tobias Suckfuel, has been released on bail but will not be released today. (9 News)
Magistrate Margaret Quinn of Downing Center Local Court earlier on Thursday accepted submissions from Moran’s lawyer that there was no new evidence linking him to the 2005 murder of Simone Strobel.
And while the Crown submitted new witness statements taken from people in Germany showed she lied about her relationship status, that evidence was not currently before the court.
The magistrate said the evidence showed the pair had been fighting, drinking heavily and possibly on some drugs at the time of the alleged murder.
“(But) in this case there doesn’t appear to be any direct or circumstantial evidence connecting him to the crime,” Quinn said.
“It’s not the strongest circumstantial case I’ve seen.”
German backpacker Simone Strobel was found dead in Lismore in 2005. (9News)
His wife has offered $200,000 security if he fails to appear in Lismore court when required, while a further $250,000 has been offered as a bond.
Moran is accused of murdering his then-partner and acting with intent to pervert the course of justice between 11pm on February 11, 2005 and 3.30pm the following day.
Police allege Moran suffocated or suffocated his girlfriend in a camper van in Lismore and disposed of her body nearby.
Moran reported the school teacher missing before she was found days later 100 meters from the camper van.
Her body was too decomposed for a coroner to determine the cause of death, but it is believed to be asphyxiation.
Tobias Moran, formerly known as Tobias Suckfuel, had been traveling around Australia with Simone Strobel in 2005. (Supplied)
The magistrate disagreed with the Crown’s claim that Moran had not co-operated with police, acknowledging that he had refused to appear at an inquest in 2007.
But he had sent many DNA samples to police, one of which was lost, and he recently submitted for extradition, he said.
Last week police confirmed they were in communication with German authorities about two arrest warrants for suspects who had been “persons of interest from the outset”.
Moran’s sister Katrin Suckfuel and friend Jens Martin were also traveling with the couple.