A jury tasked with deciding the destiny of former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn have been urged to dismiss his claims of self defence.
Lynn, 57, has pleaded not responsible within the Supreme Court docket of Victoria to the murders of Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, within the Wonnangatta Valley, within the state’s Alpine area, on March 20, 2020.
On Monday, Crown prosecutor Daniel Porceddu made his closing tackle to the jury, telling them to reject any notion the campers died by chance.
Former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn claimed he’s solely responsible of masking up the loss of life. He denies murdering the campers
Carol Clay was shot lifeless. Police can’t say how they consider Russell Hill was allegedly murdered
‘You’ve got heard the accused gave a model of occasions in his interview and within the witness field final week. For causes I will go into sooner or later, the prosecution says that that account in fully fanciful,’ he mentioned.
‘You may comfortably reject it as being an elaborate fiction.’
Mr Porceddu’s closing tackle follows Lynn’s look within the witness field final week.
Dressed neatly in a swimsuit and dark-rimmed spectacles, the previous pilot spoke in a cool and calm method as he took the jury by way of the small print of what police allege was chilly blooded homicide.
The jury heard Lynn claimed the couple died after Mr Hill stole his shotgun and the pair engaged in a lethal battle for management.
‘I do not know if he supposed to shoot me or not, most likely not,’ Lynn informed the jury. ‘I feel he was simply making an attempt to maintain the shotgun for himself and scare me off.’
The jury heard Lynn had been sitting close to his campfire by the river when he noticed Mr Hill take his shotgun and cargo the journal.
The doorways of Lynn’s Nissan Patrol had been left broad open to ‘liberate all of the music’ from his automotive stereo, which within the pilot’s personal phrases was carried out in a ‘infantile effort’ to harass Mr Hill after a earlier run-in with him.
Greg Lynn denies murdering the aged couple
Lynn claims he grew to become concerned in a lethal battle for his shotgun on the entrance of Mr Hill’s Landcruiser (pictured)
The 12-gauge shotgun Lynn claims was fired by Russell Hill into the pinnacle of Carol Clay
Whereas Lynn has all the time denied murdering the couple, the jury heard he freely admitted to cleansing up the alleged crime scene and destroying the proof.
‘It was despicable,’ Lynn conceded.
‘All I can say to the households is that I’m very sorry for your entire struggling that I’ve brought on … sure I must be punished for it. For what I did.’
The jury heard Lynn had supplied to plead responsible to the destruction of proof earlier than occurring trial, however it had been rejected by the prosecution.
‘I’m harmless of homicide,’ he mentioned. ‘I’m harmless (of manslaughter too). I have never killed anybody.’
Lynn claimed Mr Hill by chance shot Ms Clay by way of the pinnacle as he tried to wrestle the shotgun away from him.
Pressed upon the bullbar of Mr Hill’s Landcruiser, Lynn claimed Mr Hill pulled the set off, blasting off the facet mirror and hitting Ms Clay instantly within the head.
Mr Hill died moments later after falling on his personal knife throughout one other battle, Lynn claimed.
Greg Lynn leaves the wilderness after the lethal March 2020 incident
Carol Clay’s purse was left discarded in Mr Hill’s automotive
The scenic location the place the lethal incident befell
In closing the case, Mr Porceddu ran the jury by way of the entire proof they’ve been introduced over the previous month.
‘He tells you Mr Hill and Ms Clay each died by chance in individually instantaneous, or close to instantaneous, deadly incidents each led to by the conduct of Mr Hill,’ Mr Porceddu mentioned.
‘The accused’s story is certainly a sequence of very unlucky occasions. Just like the guide sequence of that identify, additionally it is a whole fiction.’
Mr Porceddu claimed Lynn had made additional errors in his account to police in regards to the alleged confrontation with Mr Hill.
‘There are a selection of causes the story that the story is totally implausible,’ he mentioned.
Mr Porceddu mentioned Lynn had made a mistake in his account of the supposed battle with Mr Hill by not taking into consideration the rope tied from the bullbar of his Landcruiser to the bathroom.
The jury heard the struggling males would have change into hopelessly entangled within the rope had Lynn’s model of occasions been true.
‘He is aware of he is sunk as a result of he is aware of that he and Mr Hill would have change into snarled within the man rope,’ Mr Porceddu mentioned.
Lynn’s sketch about how he claims the lethal battle got here to be
Mr Porceddu claimed Lynn got here up along with his story within the 18-months it took police to arrest him.
‘The so-called battle for the gun is the entire linchpin within the accused’s story. As soon as that falls like a home of playing cards every thing else tumbles with it,’ he mentioned.
‘You do not consider a phrase of it. We urge you to see the accused’s account for what it’s – a rigorously constructed fiction developed over one yr, eight months. Throughout that point the accused was in a position to acquire by way of the media an understanding of the proof rising.
‘It was an account that was clearly rigorously rehearsed a lot in order that he can repeat it virtually word-for-word over two separate days of a police interview. It’s an account crafted in such a method to shift the blame to Mr Hill.’
The jury heard Lynn’s story about Mr Hill stealing his gun from his automotive made no sense.
‘In case you’re an individual involved about firearm security, you’ve snuck as much as the accused’s campsite to confiscate his gun, and also you’re making an attempt to try this with out him understanding, why are you loading it when all you’re seeking to do is take it again to your campsite?’ the prosecutor mentioned.
Mr Porceddu mentioned it was additionally unreasonable to assume Mr Hill would have taken the shotgun and left Lynn’s rifle within the automotive.
‘In case you’re going to confiscate the gun of an individual you’ve not been on the perfect of phrases with, who you’ve allegedly been provocative in direction of and also you’re doing it to ultimately report him to the police, don’t you assume you’d make he wasn’t left with one other gun?‘ he mentioned.
The Crown’s closing tackle is predicted to take up a lot of Monday.
The jury will then be taken by way of Lynn’s closing defence by his barrister Dermot Dann, KC.
