Does anyone know what today will involve?
Today will probably be a matter of a 'mention'. The prisoner is arrayed before the court, either in person, or thru video from the remand centre ( due to security concerns, which in this instance , may well be a correct call ).
If he has come to some coherence with his court appointed solicitor, he may table a plea, guilty or not guilty, if he does, it most likely will be not guilty since it is a crime that carries a large mandatory sentence. This usually changes the closer to trial it gets.
It may be a matter of his solicitor being unable to extract any coherent instructions from his client, which is another way of putting it that the solicitor cannot instruct his client sufficiently to receive any satisfactory input into his own defence.
In other words, a brain addled drug addict making a long come-down, consequently, perhaps even unable to comprehend his own position, re the courts, the law and the community.
This being the case, say, then it would be a matter of deciding if in fact there is any purpose in a trial. He could be, and some have been, sent directly to a psychiatric ward secure, for years until deemed 'able to instruct their solicitor'.. which is often never.
The nature of the crime, ( I refer to the burning of various parts of her body) gives out some hint as to the psychiatric make-up of the accused, which doesn't bode well for a rational trial, IMO.
Or, it could be a matter of finalizing the trial date commencement, on a plea of not guilty, wherein the entire panoply of the Supreme Court gets underway to prosecute and try the case. A large undertaking, requiring time to organize.
OR... his solicitor could make a very late application for bail, of which the prisoner has no hope of getting, IMO. None. But it is worth a try.
OR/AND, the prisoners financial matters will be discussed and his capability of paying for his own defence ( Buckleys and Nunn ) or /and his requirement for a portion of the State's allocation for public money to be granted to ensure he has the very best barrister and all the barrister's minions at his beck and call for some months to come.
Lots of variables for today.