Carl Frederick Longshaw (66) appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday where he was granted bail until his next hearing in February.
The mandatory elevation of the case to the High Court appeared to shock the defendant.
"What?" he exclaimed when Judge Michael Turner made the remand.
Court documents stated it was Longshaw’s alleged lack of action that gave rise to the charge: "By omission without lawful excuse failed to perform a legal duty to provide Polly Anna Arabella Ruth Riddell with necessaries namely medical care whereby ... death was caused thereby committing manslaughter."
The woman was the daughter of former District Court judge Rosemary Riddell who, since her retirement from the bench, has lived in Central Otago with her husband Mike.
Longshaw walked to the dock with a heavy limp when his case was called and the judge allowed him to sit during the hearing.
Counsel Jo Turner sought name suppression on the basis the defendant had experienced some "phone calls and people turning up at his house" since news of the court case had broken.
Judge Turner said it was clear then that Longshaw’s identity was already known and declined the application.
The defendant openly wept in the dock.
Polly Riddell’s parents spoke of their relief about the charge when they got the "bittersweet" news last month.
They said they had been searching for answers since the 40-year-old’s death in Dunedin on October 16, 2018.
The grieving couple said Polly Riddell had recently returned from an oversees trip to Europe where she enjoyed spending time with her brother, had sold a property in Brighton and was building a house in Ida Valley.
"She came back, ready to turn 40 and five weeks later she was dead," said her mother.
"It was incomprehensible, really, and it still is. In one sense, time hasn’t dimmed that sense of incredulity, that someone so stroppy and loud and bolshy is no longer here. It just seems weird and wrong."
Longshaw’s bail conditions restricted him to living at a Dunedin address and barred him from contact with the complainant’s family and witnesses.
