Homicide Squad detectives have charged a man with manslaughter over the death of woman at Woonona more than eight years ago.
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Police will allege in court that the man was known to the dead woman Valmai Jane Birch and there was a history of domestic violence between the pair.
The 52-year-old was charged at Lake Illawarra police station with manslaughter and refused bail to appear at Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday.
Emergency services were called to a unit on Woods Avenue on March 22, 2011, after residents reported smelling a foul odour coming from the unit.
Officers attended and located the body of a woman inside a wheelie bin in the property's bathroom.
She was formally identified as 34-year-old Ms Birch.
A post-mortem examination was inconclusive; however, the death was deemed suspicious.
Detectives from the Homicide Squad and Wollongong Police District established Strike Force Gareth to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death.
During the investigation, Strike Force Gareth detectives requested the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), review their brief of evidence.
Following advice provided to police by the ODPP the strike force detectives, assisted by Southern Region Operations Support Group, arrested the man at a home at Kiama about 7.30am on Tuesday.
