Accused man admits to bashing Samantha Fraser

TWO key admissions have been made by the man charged with the murder of Phillip Island psychologist, Samantha Fraser, on Day Two of the murder trial in the Melbourne Supreme Court this week.

During his opening remarks to the jury on Wednesday, March 16, Ashley Halphen, legal counsel for the accused man, Adrian Basham, said his client admitted to attending the former family home at Seagrove Way Cowes on the morning of the incident, Monday, July 23, 2018, in contravention of a Family Violence Intervention Order.

Mr Basham, he said, was also admitting to causing "a number of non-fatal injuries" to Ms Fraser during an assault but claims that when he left the garage of her home, Ms Fraser was still alive.

He claimed Mr Basham's furtive actions after visiting the former family home were a response to contravening the order rather than anything else.

“As to the events on 23 July 2018, this much is without issue. (1) Mr Basham attended at 19 Seagrove Way on that day and at some stage, was in the garage and in the presence of Samantha Fraser.

“In doing so, he was aware he was in breach of the intervention order operating at the time and being aware of that order operating, you will need to consider the later conduct that forms part of the evidence, his later conduct after he leaves the garage, whether or not it is in any way attributable to his awareness of the intervention order being operative at the time he attends the premises and has contact with Ms Fraser.

“You will hear evidence that a number of non-fatal injuries were identified on the body of Samantha Fraser, at a post-mortem examination. Whether inflicted intentionally, or unintentionally, Mr Basham admits to causing those injuries. The issue, members of the jury, is then whether or not Mr Basham's actions went further and beyond causing those injuries.

“You will need to consider whether you can exclude the possibility that when Mr Basham left the garage to leave Cowes, Samantha Fraser was still alive. Some hours later she was found in the garage hanging. That's not in issue.

“Did Samantha Fraser suicide? You will need to consider whether you can exclude suicide as a possibility. If you cannot, then you must return a verdict of not guilty, because in those circumstances, you would not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Basham caused Samantha Fraser's death. This trial is more a whodunnit than anything else,” he said.

Earlier the court heard the opening remarks from Crown Prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers SC who told the jury that the cause of death was "hanging in the setting of multiple blunt force injuries".

“A post-mortem examination was conducted by a Dr Sarah Parsons the day after Ms Fraser's death. Toxicological analysis of samples taken from the deceased's body found indications of a therapeutic dose of diazepam as well as caffeine.

“There were a number of findings made by Dr Parsons including blunt force trauma had been applied to the face, neck, both arms and legs, consistent with an assault. Microscopic analysis of sections taken from bruises showed no signs of healing and were consistent with the bruising being sustained approximate to the time of death.

“And there was evidence of a poorly developed focal traumatic axonal injury to the brain which will be explained by another forensic pathologist called Dr Linda Iles.

“A significant number of separate injuries consistent with the assault were documented and the cause of death was found to be hanging in the setting of multiple blunt force injuries.”

Dr Rogers said police examiners found no suicide note at the scene and there were no electronic messages.

She also noted that Ms Fraser had recently told friends she was looking forward to getting back to work, to becoming financially independent, and regarded her 38th birthday, celebrated the day before she died, as 'the beginning of a wonderful new stage of my life".

The prosecutor initially provided a brief summary of the case and then expanded her remarks with a detailed presentation of the case against Mr Basham.

She said Mr Basham rode a Kawasaki motorcycle, confirmed by Peter Stevens Motorcycles as the same make, model and age as one sold to the accused in March 2018, from a friend’s home in San Remo to Cowes on the morning of July 23, 2018.

A mobile phone purchased by a friend of Mr Basham’s and later found in Mr Basham’s possession by police, pinged at Telstra towers in San Remo at 7.20am and then again on The Esplanade in Cowes at 7.56am that morning.

The motorbike and a man answering to Mr Basham’s description were also placed at the scene by CCTV footage and witnesses.

She said Mr Basham waited at the Seagrove Way property until 11.22am when his estranged wife arrived home from dropping the children at school and meeting friends for coffee at the popular Cowes’ café, G’day Tiger.

She claimed Mr Basham then assaulted Ms Fraser in the garage, allegedly sustaining a scratch to the right side of his nose in the process, before strangling his victim, tying a rope in a hangman’s knot and attaching it to the track from the garage door.

She said forensic evidence would be presented about it being highly probable that Mr Basham’s DNA was under Ms Fraser’s fingernails and at the back of her head.

Dr Rogers also claimed Mr Basham tampered with the crime scene by placing a small step ladder on its side to indicate suicide, and was allegedly seen “cleaning something on the rubbish bin” before leaving the property at 12.04pm when he was allegedly captured again on CCTV.

Dr Rogers claims Mr Basham was recorded on CCTV going back to the San Remo property between 12.13pm and 12.33pm before leaving for his father’s house in Paynesville, along the way being picked up by Bairnsdale Police for speeding, noting "he behaved emotionally, crying and complaining about his separation from the deceased".

Other claims were made about Mr Basham allegedly trying to interfere when police were interviewing San Remo residents, five days later, on July 28 and scaling a back fence in Park Street allegedly to avoid detection.

This was only two days after being interviewed and released by police at their West Melbourne Police Complex.

Both legal representatives stressed, however, that their opening remarks did not constitute evidence.

Mr Basham was ultimately arrested and charged with murder at Bairnsdale on Thursday, August 2, 2018.

He was due to face the Latrobe Valley Magistrate’s Court on Monday, July 30, on other charges in relation to Ms Fraser.

The Samantha Fraser murder trial commenced on Tuesday, July 15, when most of the day was devoted to empaneling the jury and instruction by Justice Lesley Ann Taylor.

The court heard from its first witness on Wednesday, an investigator from the Victoria Police Forensic Services Centre, LSC Michael Hradek, who showed photos of the crime scene to the jury prior to their visit to Phillip Island on Thursday this week.

The trial is expected to take six weeks.