Peter Damjanovic: Murder trial looms as accused killer of mother Tiffany Woodley sticks to not guilty plea

The alleged killer of beloved mother Tiffany Woodley is sticking with his denial that he meant to murder her — setting up the prospect of an emotional trial in 2025. Peter Damjanovic is accused of a shocking case of family violence after the battered body of Ms Woodley was found at her Bedford home in 2023. Mr Damjanovic has already entered not guilty pleas in a lower court, before repeating them before a Supreme Court judge on Monday morning. It prompted tears from members of Ms Woodley’s family, who have vowed to attend every court hearing of the man alleged to have killed the 35 year-old. Mr Damjanovic’s barrister Simon Freitag told the court that negotiations to try to resolve the case — which involved an offer to plead to a lesser charge of manslaughter — had been rejected by prosecutors. And so a week-long murder trial now seemed inevitable. The court was told that Mr Damjanovic would contest whether he intended to kill his former partner in August. There also might be questions of whether the injuries she suffered during his admitted “application of force” to her were fatal. It will need expert evidence from a forensic pathologist. Any potential trial could be more than a year away, with dates pencilled in for October 2025. However, there is also potential for a trial in January. The case will return to court in August for a status conference. In the days after Ms Woodley’s body was discovered, it was revealed that the alleged bashing was so severe that paramedics were unable to revive her in a scene described by senior police as “horrific and confronting”. Police said at the time that emergency services were alerted to the 35-year-old’s death by a triple-0 call made by a man at the home. In a eulogy at her funeral, Pastor Greg Kelly said Ms Woodley enjoyed ballet, taekwondo and Little Athletics as a child. He described her “joy at being a big sister to Semisha” and later in life as a loving and proud mother who was “always there for her babies”. He told stories of a thoughtful big sister, who once “tried to collect her baby sister some snow to bring it back home to Narrogin” after a school trip to the Snowy Mountains. Pastor Kelly also read several tributes to Ms Woodley, printed in the program for attendees to take home, in which she was described by loved ones as a “quiet achiever” with a “huge smile” and “contagious spirit”.