A Perth Children's Court Judge has implored the lawyers who are representing three boys and five men charged with the post-Australia Day murder of Patrick Slater to convene together to move the case along.
Six months after the death of the26-year-old near the Esplanade Train Station in the early hours of January 27, none of the eight males charged have entered a plea and all remain remanded in custody.
During proceedings in the Perth Children's Court on Monday, Judge Denis Reynolds ordered the three lawyers representing the three boys, aged 12, 14 and 17, to meet and discuss the case.
"I make an order today... these three parties, together with the other five [adult-accused] parties, confer on a without prejudice basis to identify facts and issues that can be agreed, if that's possible, to then enable the management of any trial," he said.
"The matter needs to be managed in a very efficient way...that's in the interest of justice."
The three boys accused of murder have been remanded in Banksia Hill Detention Centre since being arrested between February and April.
The youngest accused, 12, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had his application for bail denied in May after Judge Reynolds concluded no suitable carer had been identified for the boy.
His seven other co-accused are yet to apply for bail.
Mr Slater died in hospital after the group allegedly attacked him with star pickets, screwdrivers and rocks around 3am, as he tried to protect his family members from an ongoing brawl in the Perth CBD involving around 20 people.
All eight accused males will reappear before the courts in August.
