A jury tasked with deciding the fate of former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn has been warned they don’t have any evidence to convict him upon – and were asked: ‘Does that sit well with you?’
Lynn, 57, pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to the murders of Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, in the Wonnangatta Valley, in the state’s alpine region on March 20, 2020.
On Wednesday, Lynn’s barrister Dermot Dann KC harshly criticised the prosecution case.
Mr Dann told the jury they had been left with no evidence to work with to convince themselves beyond reasonable doubt Lynn was guilty of the murders.
Greg Lynn is accused of the two murders
‘There is no factual basis on the prosecution case. They have none, nought, total blank,’ Mr Dann said.
‘There’s no evidence … you’re being asked to find a man guilty of murder.
‘On the prosecution case there is zero factual foundation, zero motive – just a complete blank.
‘Does that sit well with you? I mean how can it?’
Mr Dann said while his client admitted to the crime of disposing of evidence, he could not be found guilty of murder based on the evidence presented at his trial.
‘On the prosecution case there is zero factual foundation, zero motive – just a complete blank.
‘Does that sit well with you? I mean how can it?’
‘We’re in a murder trial. You’re trying to do your duty as jurors and being asked to convict a man. Well you just can’t say “well look we don’t have any evidence but let’s just convict him anyway”. That’s not how it works,’ Mr Dann said.
The jury heard claims that the prosecution did not adequately challenge Mr Lynn’s account when given the chance to cross-examine him last week.
‘What challenge was there to Mr Lynn’s account of the accidental death of Mr Hill? Zero,’ Mr Dann said.
Nor did the prosecutor ask questions about the knife Lynn claimed Mr Hill tried to stab him with after accidentally shooting Ms Clay.
‘Is he challenged about that evidence? No. Is he asked a single question about that evidence? No,’ Mr Dann told the jury.
‘There’s just no challenge. The evidence of Mr Lynn stands unchallenged. Unchallenged as to how Mr Hill died.’
Lynn’s barrister Dermot Dann, KC (left) attacked the prosecution case on Wednesday
L:ynn claims Carol Clay was shot dead by Russell Hill during a struggle over his gun. Mr Hill died moments later at the end of his own knife, Lynn said
Mr Dann said Lynn had no reason to murder the elderly campers.
‘(Prosecutor) Mr Porceddu in his cross examination of Mr Lynn kept asking these questions about him being a pilot, you’re trained to stay calm and deal with stressful situations … each time he asked such a question it only made the alleged murder of Mr Hill more and more and more improbable,’ he said.
‘Why would that man you saw in the witness box, this calm, composed man, what’s he going to kill Mr Hill for when there’s no apparent reason to do so?’
Mr Dann said a prosecution theory Lynn killed the couple over a dispute about his flying of a drone had no evidence to support it.
‘That’s not a motive. That’s not being put forward as a motive. The prosecution accept they don’t know anything about the motive when it comes to Mr Hill,’ Mr Dann said.
‘So that is why we say ladies and gentleman to you that they don’t have a case. There is no meat on the bones. There’s nothing.’
Mr Dann described the prosecution case as hopeless.
‘We have the rule of law that we try and observe in this court. It is truly, as we said yesterday, just a hopeless case. This is an important case, no doubt, important trial. Seems to be a lot of people interested, no doubt,’ Mr Dann said.
‘But the simple reality is – and if this ruffles feathers, it ruffles feathers – it’s a hopeless case.
‘They have no case in respect to murder in regards to charge 1. How can you find someone guilty in a complete factual vacuum?’
Greg Lynn faces life in jail if convicted of the murders
Lynn claims a deadly struggle took place at the front of this Landcruiser
Mr Dann claimed the prosecution had also failed to prove that Lynn murdered Ms Clay.
‘We say there’s the same fundamental problems with the prosecution case,’ Mr Dann said.
The jury heard Lynn had been sitting near his campfire by the river when he saw Mr Hill take his shotgun and load the magazine.
The doors of Lynn’s Nissan Patrol had been left wide open to ‘liberate all the music’ from his car stereo, which in the pilot’s own words was done in a ‘childish effort’ to annoy Mr Hill after a previous run-in with him.
Lynn claimed Mr Hill accidentally shot Ms Clay through the head as he attempted to wrestle the shotgun away from him.
Pressed upon the bullbar of Mr Hill’s Landcruiser, Lynn claimed Mr Hill pulled the trigger, blasting off the side mirror and hitting Ms Clay directly in the head.
Mr Hill died moments later after falling on his own knife during another struggle, Lynn claimed.
The spat had allegedly been sparked by Mr Hill’s supposed dislike of deer hunting.
Mr Dann claimed the prosecution knew they would have come off ‘very much second best’ if they confronted Mr Lynn in the witness box.
‘They had their opportunity and what happened? If this is all so far fetched and it’s fanciful, this skilled operator here Mr Porceddu, he would have cut (Lynn) to ribbons. he would have got to the heart of the matter very quickly,’ Mr Dann told the jury.
‘He didn’t ask him a single question. Why do you think that might have been … he knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere. He threw in the towel. It was all too hard. You should accept they were the reasons that he didn’t confront Mr Lynn in the witness box.
‘You should accept that he knew that process wasn’t going to help the prosecution case. You should accept that he knew the prosecution case was going to come off very much second best in that encounter.’
Carol Clay was shot in the head. Lynn claims by her secret lover Russell Hill
The shotgun Lynn claims Russell Hill stole from his 4WD
Mr Dann said Mr Porceddu’s failure to engage Lynn in the witness box about his reasons for what he did following the alleged murders left Lynn’s evidence unchallenged.
‘Because his evidence stands unchallenged. His evidence as to why he did those terrible things stands unchallenged. There’s no challenge to it. What are you meant to do? He’s presumed innocent, he’s given you the reasons, he’s not cross examined,’ Mr Dann said.
‘Unless you’re operating under the presumption of guilt or something, it’s all over in terms of that reasoning process … if you’re being asked to convict on this so called incriminating conduct, you should accept the whole exercise was avoided with Mr Lynn because they were going to come off second best.’
Mr Dann took a further swipe at the prosecution, questioning its ‘human decency’ in the way they went about putting information to the jury not put directly to Lynn.
‘It can’t be that they’ve just forgotten. They can’t be that shambolic. It was unfair to Mr Lynn because that’s what the rule is about. It’s about fairness. It’s based in human decency that if you’re going to allege something against someone you give them the opportunity to deal with the allegations,’ Mr Dann said.
‘Human decency. Fairness. What happened to that when Mr Lynn gave his evidence?’
Mr Dann’s closing address is expected to conclude on Wednesday afternoon, with the jury then to be directed by the judge on matters of law they need to consider before retiring to consider their verdict.
