PROSECTUORS say there is “no doubt as to whodunit” in the trial of Adrian Basham, accused of murdering his estranged wife, Swan Hill-raised mother of three Samantha Fraser.
In the Supreme Court in Melbourne before Easter, Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rogers spent two days summarising 79 witness accounts and 58 exhibits for the jury in the trial of Basham, 45, accused of murdering Ms Fraser on Phillip Island in 2018.
“At the beginning of this trial the defence suggested to you that this trial is ‘more a whodunit’ than anything else,” Dr Rogers told the jury.
“The prosecution says that once you have carefully considered all of the evidence, you will have no reasonable doubt as to whodunit.”
Prosecutors allege that Ms Fraser’s death, which occurred after Mr Basham inflicting 41 separate injuries to his ex-wife, was not a suicide. Mr Basham has admitted being responsible for the injuries.
“It was a cold and brutal murder, and it was Adrian Basham who did it,” Dr Rogers told the court.
Ashley Helphen, defence counsel for Mr Basham, told the jury that there were inconsistencies in the evidence and a lack of certainty regarding Ms Fraser’s mental state leading up to her death.
Mr Helphen referenced the evidence of Dr Parsons and Dr Iles, emphasising the calibre of the two forensic science experts.
Dr Parsons and Dr Iles both previously told the jury they were unsure whether Ms Fraser was unconscious at the time of the hanging.
“Dr Parsons, with the full gamut of her qualifications and experience, told you that she cannot positively assert that Samantha Fraser was hanged by Mr Basham,” Mr Helphen said.
“If experts in the field cannot resolve the primary issue in this trial, where does that leave the prosecution and its ability to discharge the burden that it carries to satisfy you of murder beyond reasonable doubt?”
Mr Helphen also suggested to the jury that Ms Fraser’s mental health and therefore the likelihood of her death by suicide, could not be certain.
Witness Donna Zander, a mental health social worker, had previously told the court that Ms Fraser in January 2018 scored “extremely high for post-traumatic stress disorder” and fell into the severe range for depression.
Before her death, Ms Fraser had also told her partner, Wayne Foster, that a previous birthday had been very difficult and that she had considered suicide.
The defence holds that Ms Fraser was alone for a measure of time before she died and that her death by suicide was a possibility.
Closing his address before the Easter weekend, Mr Helphen urged the jury to “call in the very greatest amount of intellectual honesty possible” in this “desperately sad” case.
The jury returns today (April 19) to take instructions from Justice Lesley Taylor and will then retire to consider their verdict.
