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A young Australian man appeared in a Brisbane court yesterday charged with the rape and murder of French student Sophie Collombet, 21.
Collombet's naked body was found in a rotunda at a park near her apartment in South Brisbane on March 28. Police said the business student had been beaten to death.
"A 25-year-old man has been charged with one count each of murder, rape, deprivation of liberty and robbery," Queensland Police said.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said the man, who cannot be named appeared briefly at Brisbane Magistrates Court after being picked up by police in Coffs Harbour in neighbouring New South Wales. He was remanded in custody and is due to face court again in May.
Collombet is the fourth foreign student to be murdered in the Australian city in just a few months.
The exchange student's killing follows the stabbing death of Singaporean Meena Narayanan in March.
Just months earlier, South Korean student Eunji Ban, 23, was found battered to death in a Brisbane park and weeks later the body of another South Korean, 28-year-old Min Tae Kim, was discovered in a shallow grave in a backyard.
There is no suggestion the deaths are linked and police have said they believe the victims were simply in the wrong places at the wrong times.
Officials have insisted that visitors from overseas have nothing to fear as Prime Minister Tony Abbott, on a visit to Seoul on Tuesday, said Australia was by international standards "very, very safe".
Flowers and tributes have been left at the park where Collombet's body was found.
The accused man's mother, who reportedly attended court in support of her son when he made his appearance, has also visited the park and expressed her sympathy to Collombet's family.
"We're all so sorry and sad and it shouldn't happen to anybody. A beautiful girl like Sophie, she's just gorgeous - it's just wrong," she said.


Suspect in French student's beating death appears in Brisbane court

A 25-year-old man Benjamin Milward has been charged with the murder, rape, and robbery of French student Sophie Collombet.

Sophie Collombet's body was found in a park in March.

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A young Australian man appeared in a Brisbane court yesterday charged with the rape and murder of French student Sophie Collombet, 21.


Suspect in French student's beating death appears in Brisbane court

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A young Australian man appeared in a Brisbane court yesterday charged with the rape and murder of French student Sophie Collombet, 21.

A young Australian man appeared in a Brisbane court yesterday charged with the rape and murder of French student Sophie Collombet, 21.