Cody Edwards, on trial for murder of Synamin Bell at Millicent, suddenly pleads guilty to manslaughter

A man accused of the horrific bashing murder of his partner while high on drugs has suddenly changed his plea halfway through the trial.

A man on trial for the murder of a Millicent mother-of-three found brutally beaten to death inside her home in 2022 has suddenly pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

A week after his murder trial began in the Supreme Court in Mount Gambier, Cody James Edwards, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter over the death of Synamin Bell, 26. He had previously pleaded not guilty to murder.

Synamin Bell in a picture provided by her family.

Cody James Edwards. Picture: Facebook

Prosecutors, who had alleged Ms Bell was “brutally beaten to death” by Edwards in the master bedroom of her home on the evening of March 12, 2022, accepted the plea.

Sentencing submissions for the manslaughter charge will take place in early September.

Outside Mount Gambier Courthouse after the shock plea, Ms Bell’s family said they were extremely disappointed.

“It just feels like the whole thing is a joke,” one family member said.

“We were hoping for a very long sentence and by the looks of it he might not get it,” another added.

Mount Gambier courthouse.

During the trial, the court heard Edwards had killed Ms Bell in a “drug-induced” psychosis as an act of self-defence while fearing for his own life.

It heard the couple were living together in Ms Bell’s home when, on the night of her death, he repeatedly struck her over the head with a metal weapon with such force it “crushed the whole left side of the back of her head”.

Prosecutors said she was hit while she lay face down on the bedroom floor and stabbed five times in her back after she died.

Forensic pathologist Neil Langlois told the court Ms Bell died of blunt-force head trauma caused by multiple blows to the left of her skull.

Dr Langlois said he was unable to determine for certain how many blows had been administered nor which blow was the one that killed Ms Bell.

The judge-only trial heard a metal softball bat, dumbbell bar and kitchen knife were used in the attack.

The court heard Edwards called a close friend of Ms Bell, Emma Farley, after the death and said, “Emma I’ve killed her, call the cops”.

She and her partner called police and went to Ms Bell’s place. The court heard upon arriving they found a blood-covered Mr Edwards who told Ms Farley’s partner, “she’s gone, I killed her”.

Minutes later police arrived and Ms Farley’s partner ran into the house and discovered Ms Bell’s body.

Body-cam footage from the officers on scene shown in court showed Edwards being arrested for the suspected murder, to which he later pleaded not guilty.

Edwards’ defence counsel said they would argue Edwards was in the thralls of a drug-induced psychosis that caused him to think Ms Bell intended to kill him, leading him to attack her in self defence.

A toxicology report revealed Edwards had ingested DOI, a psychedelic drug an investigative officer told the court was “very uncommon, apparently not encountered by forensic science before this case”.

Edwards was remanded in continuing custody to reappear in September.