The case in opposition to former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn has been branded a ‘shame’ by his lawyer because the five-week trial attracts to its finish.
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, Lynn’s barrister Dermot Dann KC attacked the prosecution case in opposition to his shopper.
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 imagine Russell Hill was allegedly murdered
‘It is a prosecution case that has bumbled and stumbled its method out of the problematic class that it began in to unequivocally and unmistakably into the class of hopeless. Utterly hopeless,’ Mr Dann mentioned.
The jury heard the Crown case had been ruined by the ‘half-baked’ prosecution, notably by Crown prosecutor Daniel Porceddu, whom Mr Dann in comparison with the bumbling fictional Inspector Clouseau.
‘Culminating in a closing tackle at the moment that was so determined it broke time and time once more a effectively established rule in these courts – a rule of equity,’ Mr Dann mentioned.
‘That closing tackle at the moment by my realized prosecutor was so determined {that a} rule that is been in existence and well-known to prison legal professionals – it has been in existence for 130 years – was breached time and time once more. It was a disgraceful efficiency. Completely disgraceful.’
Earlier, Mr Porceddu urged the jury to reject any notion the campers died by chance.
‘You have 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 utterly fanciful,’ he mentioned.
‘You’ll be able to 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 the main points 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, in all probability not,’ Lynn instructed the jury.
‘I believe 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 extensive open to ‘liberate all of the music’ from his automobile stereo, which within the pilot’s personal phrases was finished in a ‘infantile effort’ to harass Mr Hill after a earlier run-in with him.
Lynn’s barrister Dermot Dann, KC has savaged the prosecution case
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 Carol Clay’s head
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 whole struggling that I’ve precipitated… sure I ought to be punished for it. For what I did.’
The jury heard Lynn had provided to plead responsible to the destruction of proof earlier than occurring trial, nevertheless it had been rejected by the prosecution.
‘I’m harmless of homicide,’ he mentioned.
‘I’m harmless (of manslaughter too). I have not killed anybody.’
Lynn claimed Mr Hill by accident shot Ms Clay by the top 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 aspect mirror and hitting Ms Clay immediately within the head.
Mr Hill died moments later after falling on his personal knife throughout one other battle, Lynn claimed.
The spat had allegedly been sparked by Mr Hill’s supposed dislike of deer searching.
‘In line with accused, this unlucky collection of occasions is alleged to begin with one factor, Mr Hill being hostile in the direction of him as a result of he was a deer hunter,’ Mr Porceddu mentioned.
‘He concocts a model of occasions that places Mr Hill as aggressor and him because the sufferer in a campsite spat.’
Greg Lynn leaves the wilderness after the lethal March 2020 incident
Carol Clay’s purse was left discarded in Mr Hill’s automobile
The scenic location the place the lethal incident came about
In closing the case, Mr Porceddu ran the jury by all the proof they’ve been offered over the previous month.
‘He tells you Mr Hill and Ms Clay each died by accident in individually instantaneous, or close to instantaneous, deadly incidents each caused by the conduct of Mr Hill,’ Mr Porceddu mentioned.
‘The accused’s story is certainly a collection of very unlucky occasions. Just like the e book collection of that identify, it’s also 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 considering the rope tied from the bullbar of his Landcruiser to the bathroom.
The jury heard the struggling males would have grow to be 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 grow to be 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 all the things else tumbles with it,’ he mentioned.
‘You do not imagine a phrase of it. We urge you to see the accused’s account for what it’s – a fastidiously constructed fiction developed over one yr, eight months. Throughout that point the accused was in a position to achieve by the media an understanding of the proof rising.
‘It was an account that was clearly fastidiously rehearsed a lot in order that he can repeat it nearly word-for-word over two separate days of a police interview. It’s an account crafted in such a solution to shift the blame to Mr Hill.’
The jury heard Lynn’s story about Mr Hill stealing his gun from his automobile made no sense.
‘In case you’re an individual involved about firearm security, you’ve got snuck as much as the accused’s campsite to confiscate his gun, and also you’re making an attempt to do this with out him realizing, why are you loading it when all you are trying 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 automobile.
‘If you are going to confiscate the gun of an individual you’ve got not been on the perfect of phrases with, who you’ve got allegedly been provocative in the direction of and also you’re doing it to ultimately report him to the police, do not you assume you’d make he wasn’t left with one other gun?’ he mentioned.
The jury heard police allege Lynn possible murdered Mr Hill after some type of dispute earlier than eliminating Ms Clay as a result of she was the one witness.
‘Had she been allowed to reside, Ms Clay would have been able to determine the accused,’ Mr Porceddu mentioned.
‘Whereas it isn’t identified how Mr Hill was killed as a result of the accused intentionally burnt the physique of Mr Hill and obliterated any forensic proof … the proof establishes Ms Clay was killed by a gunshot to the top.’
The jury heard forensic consultants have been solely ever in a position to determine one bone fragment from the 2000-plus discovered as belonging to Mr Hill.
