The jury in the Greg Lynn murder trial has been reminded of a series of prosecution mistakes after returning to court to ask the judge a question.
The former Jetstar pilot has pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to the murders of secret lovers Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, in the Wonnangatta Valley, in Victoria’s Alpine region, on March 20, 2020.
On Wednesday, Justice Michael Croucher told the jury they were able to watch recordings of both Lynn and ballistics expert Senior Constable Paul Griffiths giving their evidence in court.
Greg Lynn is appearing at the Supreme Court of Victoria
Secret lovers Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, died in the Wonnangatta Valley, in Victoria’s Alpine region, in March 2020.
The jury had asked the question before retiring for the day on Tuesday.
In telling the jury they could access the video recordings, Justice Croucher reminded them about a series of directions he gave after the closing addresses were delivered last week.
Justice Croucher told the jury they needed to recall his directions on ‘fairness’ while re-watching the evidence again on video.
On Friday, Justice Croucher took aim at Crown prosecutor Daniel Porceddu for breaking the well established rules of ‘fairness’ in his closing address.
‘The rule of fairness was breached by Mr Porceddu when making arguments to you,’ he told the jury.
‘Had Mr Porceddu asked Mr Lynn these questions, put these propositions to him, Mr Lynn may well have been able to respond in a powerful and convincing way.’
The jury heard Mr Porceddu made the mistake of making submissions in his closing address that he did not give Lynn an opportunity to answer while he was in the witness box last week.
‘In assessing the prosecution case on these matters you must take into account Mr Lynn … was not given the opportunity by the prosecutor to directly answer these points,’ he said.
‘Because of this breach in basic rules of fairness and because of those consequences of the breach, you may more readily reject the prosecution argument and may more readily reject the inferences the prosecution wants you to draw.’
The shotgun police say Greg Lynn used to murder elderly camper Carol Clay
Greg Lynn’s shotgun was equipped with a laser sight
On Wednesday, Justice Croucher told the jury again that Lynn is presumed innocent and did not need to prove ‘a single thing’ to them.
The jury was told they needed to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt Lynn was guilty of murder to return such a verdict.
Justice Croucher told the jury Lynn and Senior Constable Griffiths had not been given an opportunity to respond to multiple allegations put to them by Mr Porceddu in his closing address.
Justice Croucher said the jury needed to watch both the prosecution questioning and defence cross-examination of both witnesses to ‘get the full picture’.
The court heard the jury was granted access to more than five hours of video captured of Lynn and the ballistics expert, which they will review behind closed doors.
The jury retired to consider its verdict on Monday afternoon and has now sat a full day-and-a-half deliberating.
Senior Constable Griffiths had previously told the jury he found the 12-gauge slug on March 2, 2022 allegedly used to kill Ms Clay at the location where her burnt campsite was found.
The mangled slug was further found to contain fibres and ‘biological material’ believed to have been that of Ms Clay.
The jury has previously heard claims the slug that killed Ms Clay blew off the passenger side mirror of Mr Hill’s Landcruiser before striking Ms Clay in the head.
‘Given that quite some time had passed we had to use a sieving technique. So we went down close to an inch in that area,’ he said.
Using a metal detector, the detective located glass fragments and the slug, he told the court.
‘It was a fired projectile with a significant amount of impact damage,’ Senior Constable Griffiths said.
Another search a week later turned up more alleged evidence, including bone fragments.
Police believe the side mirror of Russell Hill’s car was shot off (pictured)
Senior Constable Griffiths said he was directed back into the bush in March 2022 in the hope of finding evidence that may have been missed earlier.
‘The purpose was to search for other items and, from memory, find cartridge cases … and other bone fragments,’ he told the jury.
His evidence was savaged by Lynn’s barrister Dermott Dann, KC.
Under cross examination, Senior Constable Griffiths came under fire for failing to check Lynn’s story before performing trajectory tests.
The jury heard the detective had not used Lynn’s shotgun to perform the tests, despite previously telling a preliminary hearing he had.
‘This is just a botched exercise isn’t it,’ Mr Dann said.
‘It’s completely accurate,’ came the response.
Lynn himself spent much of a day in the witness box giving his version of events.
While Lynn has always denied murdering the couple, the jury heard he freely admitted to cleaning up the alleged crime scene and destroying the evidence.
‘It was despicable,’ Lynn conceded.
‘All I can say to the families is that I am very sorry for all of your suffering that I’ve caused … yes I should be punished for it. For what I did.’
The jury heard Lynn had offered to plead guilty to the destruction of evidence before going on trial, but it had been rejected by the prosecution.
‘I am innocent of murder,’ he said. ‘I am innocent (of manslaughter too). I haven’t killed anyone.’
Dressed neatly in a suit and dark-rimmed spectacles, the former pilot spoke in a cool and calm manner as he took the jury through the bloody details of what police allege was cold blooded murder.
