![A trial over the alleged murder of Amber Haigh in 2002 took an unexpected turn even before it began in the Wagga Supreme Court on Monday. File picture A trial over the alleged murder of Amber Haigh in 2002 took an unexpected turn even before it began in the Wagga Supreme Court on Monday. File picture](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/172474527/3bdbcbaf-aeb1-4e15-939f-50c13f59af08.jpg/r0_121_800_571_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The murder trial against a Riverina couple who allegedly killed their teenage housemate more than 20 years ago has hit an unexpected roadblock just before it was set to begin in the Wagga Supreme Court this week.
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There has been a delay in the trial of Robert Samuel Geeves and his wife Anne Margaret Geeves, charged over the alleged murder of 19-year-old Amber Haigh in 2002, after last-minute news one of the pair had been hospitalised.
Justice Julia Lonergan told the court about five minutes before the trial was set to begin she had received a medical certificate stating Anne Geeves had been admitted to hospital with an infection.
Justice Lonergan said the "entirely inadequate and uninformative" certificate dated last Thursday had been sent to the wrong address on Friday afternoon.
The court heard neither the defence counsels nor the crown prosecutors were aware of the situation until Monday morning.
The court was briefly adjourned while further details were gathered.
Reconvening at noon, the court heard Anne Geeves is recovering from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and bacterial pneumonia and is currently in isolation at Silverwater Correctional Complex in Western Sydney after a hospital stay at Westmead.
The court heard Mrs Geeves is unlikely to have recovered to appear before the court until at least Thursday, and as such Justice Lonergan adjourned the matter until that date.
Robert and Anne Geeves, both aged 64, were arrested at a Harden property in May 2022 and have since been charged with the alleged murder of their teenage housemate Ms Haigh two decades ago.
The husband and wife have both pleaded not guilty to her murder and it's understood the judge-only trial which began on Monday could run for up to eight weeks.
Ms Haigh was reported missing in June 2002 after she failed to return home to Kingsvale, where she and her six-month-old child had been living with the Geeves.
A coronial inquest in 2011 found Ms Haigh died as a result of homicide or misadventure.
A formal review of the case was conducted in 2020, however Ms Haigh's body has never been found.