A TRIAL over the death of Swan Hill-raised mother of three Samantha Fraser has paused for a week after a jury member tested positive for COVID-19.
The murder trial of Ms Fraser’s estranged husband Adrian Basham is set to resume next Tuesday.
Ms Fraser’s body was found in her Phillip Island home in 2018, a day after her 38th birthday.
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC told the court during her opening address that “the accused set about manipulating the crime scene to make it appear that she had committed suicide by hanging”.
Ms Fraser’s father Trevor Fraser, who was an agronomist in Swan Hill for 40 years, said there was “no way” Ms Fraser would have taken her own life and left her three children.
Defence counsel Ashley Halphen told the court Mr Basham had admitted to being at his former family home in Seagrove Way, Cowes, on July 23, the day of Ms Fraser’s death, contravening a family violence intervention order.
Mr Halphen also said Mr Basham had admitted to causing “a number of non-fatal injuries” to Ms Fraser but claimed she was still alive when he left the property.
The defence has argued that a suicide can not be ruled out.
