ADRIAN Basham has been found guilty of murdering his ex-wife, Swan Hill-raised mother of three and psychologist Samantha Fraser in her Cowes home in July 2018.
The jury found Mr Basham, 45, guilty of staging Ms Fraser’s death to appear as a suicide.
During the trial, Mr Basham’s defence counsel told the court he had admitted to causing 41 separate injuries to his ex-wife but that he did not go on to kill her and that she had died by suicide.
The prosecution submitted, however, that Mr Basham secreted himself in Ms Fraser’s garden and on her return to the home he followed her into the garage, assaulted her and tied a noose around her neck.
Ms Fraser was killed the day after her 38th birthday and the morning of her murder she sent a text to her then partner Wayne Foster saying that she was entering “the beginning of a wonderful new stage of my life xo”.
Over the course of the trial, the court has heard that Ms Fraser was a much-loved mother, daughter and friend.
She was raised in Swan Hill and was formerly the dux and captain of Swan Hill College.
Her father Trevor Fraser, an agronomist who worked in the region for 40 years, has previously called his late daughter “a real community person”.
Ms Fraser is survived by three children.
The plea hearing will be heard on September 19.
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