Five Task Force Southern accused ordered to stand trial in connection to alleged murder of Robert Atkins
A group of five people charged in connection to the alleged assault and murder of Robert Atkins have been ordered to stand trial.
Police & Courts
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A group of accused arrested as part of Task Force Southern – including a man charged with the murder of Robert Atkins – have been ordered to stand trial.
Sean Clive Phypers, 33, of Northfield did not personally appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday but entered pleas of not guilty to a charge of murder and other charges via his solicitor Danni Stevens.
Cameron Lachlan Stuart, 34, of Christies Beach, Clinton Arthur Turvey, 44, of Adelaide, Mikhael Joseph Brereton, 33, of Christie Downs and a woman, 26, whose identity is suppressed, each pleaded not guilty to charges of detaining and causing harm to Mr Atkins before he was killed.
They also each pleaded not guilty to a charge of participating in a criminal organisation, except for Mr Turvey who will instead ask the court to throw out the charge at a hearing next month.
Mr Atkins, 29, was last seen at Port Pirie on November 16, 2020 and his mother reported him missing on January 2, 2021, after she did not hear from him for two months.
The court has previously heard Mr Atkins was allegedly stripped bare, hog tied and subjected to a “deliberate and systematic series of assaults” in the week before he was killed – allegedly on instructions from Mr Stuart via prison phone calls.
“This defendant and several of the co-accused all received instructions via the prison telephone system from Stuart to orchestrate the detention of Atkins. Each of the co-accused played an active part in that,” police prosecutor Stuart Rees told a court at the earlier hearing.
The court heard some of the alleged assaults on Mr Atkins were captured on video.
Magistrate John Wells ordered the group stand trial in the Supreme Court, where they will appear for arraignment in May.
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