Australia's immigration detention health provider will contest criminal charges over the death of a man at Sydney's Villawood detention centre.
International Health and Medical Services (IHMS), which provides health care to detainees across Australia’s immigration detention network, is facing allegations it breached its obligations under work health and safety laws.
Iraqi man Milad Abdulrahim Aljaberi, 26, died by his own hand while being detained at Villawood on March 4, 2019.
Both IHMS and the Commonwealth's Department of Home Affairs are facing charges following an investigation by federal work health and safety authority Comcare.
IHMS lawyer Martin Shume told the Downing Centre Local Court on Monday his client intended to plead not guilty.
Mr Shume noted it was approaching six years since Mr Aljaberi's death and he wanted to put on record his client's willingness to move forward with the matter.
"We don’t want to be seen to be sitting here and saying nothing and doing nothing," he said.
The court also heard the cases against IHMS and Home Affairs could be conducted separately, despite them relating to the same incident and likely featuring many of the same witnesses.
Prosecutor Adrian Williams agreed with Magistrate Brett Shields that the case against the Commonwealth had evolved to it essentially holding a “supervisory role”.
"While it is the same underlying incident, the nature of the liability ... is quite different in terms of the relationship between the parties," Mr Williams said.
Mr Shields said the matters should be heard together if possible to reduce the burden on the court's already limited resources.
"The timely disposition of justice in this court is a significant factor," the magistrate said.
A hearing to resolve the case is expected to take seven weeks and could feature as many as 34 witnesses proposed by the prosecution.
The matter is due to return to court on August 5 for further case management.
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